Kathua rape: BJP's Nirbhaya moment?

New Delhi/Jammu: Congress president Rahul Gandhi  and senior Congress leaders marched from the Congress headquarters to India Gate in the heart of Delhi at midnight to demand justice for the Kathua and Unnao rape victims.

The midnight march comes amid nationwide horror over the chilling details of the brutal gangrape of an 8-year-old being revealed in a chargesheet filed by Jammu and Kashmir police. In Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, the BJP MLA accused of rape has still not been arrested despite a case being registered under POCSO, which mandates immediate arrest. The case has now been transferred to the CBI.

Politicians across the divide on Thursday joined hands with showbiz celebrities and others to speak up for  eight-year-old girl, a Gujjar from the minority Bakerwal community who was gangraped and killed in Kathua three months ago.

The brutal rape and killing of this child is being seen as a move by saffronists to push the Gujjar and Bakerwal community - the country's first line of defence against militancy - into militancy in a hitherto peaceful Jammu, where people refused to support militants.

An enraged nation demanded "exemplary punishment" for the culprits of the crime, even as the politics over the arrest of eight people in connection with the case continued to dominate the discourse in this city of temples.

The support for the eight-year-old girl was growing with politicians, cutting across party lines, seeking justice for her.

Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said, "we as humans" had failed the eight-year-old girl, but she would not be denied justice. Congress president Rahul Gandhi described the rape and killing of the girl as "unimaginable brutality" that cannot go unpunished, and wondered how anybody can seek to protect the culprits. He also lashed out at the politics being played over the crime.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said her government would not allow law to be obstructed and ensure justice in the rape-and-murder case.

Custodians of hate
8-year-old nomad Bakerwal (herdsmen) girl, went missing while grazing horses in Rasana village of Hiranagar tehsil of J&K's Kathua district on January 17. A week later, her body was found in woods near her village. The DNA and police investigations have revealed that she was held inside a local temple where she was drugged, repeatedly raped and killed. The police have arrested eight people including the custodian of the temple, his son and two Special Police Officers for their alleged involvement in the crime. A police sub-Inspector and a Head-Constable too have been arrested on charges of destroying evidence.