?????Srinagar: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said that she was appalled by the protest in demand for release of rapist SPO arrested by police in connection with the ghastly murder and rape of the Kathua girl.
Hindu Ekta Munch had taken a protest march on Thursday in Jammu in support of the accused in the brutal rape and murder in Kathua last month.
In a tweet, Mehbooba also said that she was horrified by use of tricolour by the protesters in Jammu.
Appalled by the marches & protests in defense of the recently apprehended rapist in Kathua. Also horrified by their use of our national flag in these demonstrations, this is nothing short of desecration. The accused has been arrested & the law will follow its course, Mehbooba tweeted.
Earlier this month, polices crime branch arrested the Special Police Officer (SPO) for his involvement in connection with the kidnapping, rape and murder of 8-year-old nomad girl Asifa Bano of the Rasana village in the Hiranagar area of the Kathua district.
The evidence against the SPO, Deepak Khajuria (28), is solid, and medical evidence shows that victim had been raped before murder, Additional Director General of Police for the Crime Branch, Alok Puri, had said.
The SPO, posted at the Hiranagar police station, had been a part of the police team searching for the girl when her family first reported her missing on Jan 10..
According to the police, the motive of the crime was to spark fear in the nomad community.
Khajuria has confessed to the crime when confronted with the evidence, the police said.
His is the second arrest in the case since January 19 when the government had said that the Kathua police had arrested a 15-year-old boy who had confessed to the killing.
The minor accused, whose identity has not been disclosed due to the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, has, according to the police claimed to have strangulated the girl when she resisted his rape attempt.
Legislators have repeatedly been questioning the lack of action from the police for a week after the girl went missing, and asking how a minor alone could have carried the victims body to it its hiding place.
Asifa Bano had been missing since January 10 when she had failed to return home from watering horses in Rassana forests , and her body was found on January 17.
The next day, after protests rocked the area, the Kathua police had said that an SIT under SDPO border, had been set up to investigate the case and a medical report of the murdered girl was expected within a couple of days.
On January 20, the government transferred the Station House Officer of the Hiranagar police station, ordering a magisterial probe, and three days later, on January 23, handed the case over to the Crime branch.
SIT Arrests Another Accused
Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Crime Branch of police, probing ghastly rape-and-murder of Kathua nomad girl Asifa Bano, arrested one more accused person on Friday.
A local news agency GNS that the SIT arrested one more person namely Surinder Kumar in case (FIR No: 10/2018 U/S 363, 320, 376, 302 RPC). Sources said that the arrested person had information about the abduction of the girl.
The FIR was registered following the rape-and murder of the 8-year-old girl Asifa Bano of Rasana Mohara, Hiranagar, Kathua. Asifa was abducted on Jan 10 and her body was found on January 17.
Additional Director General (ADG) Crime Branch, Alok Puri, when contacted responded in affirmative when asked by GNS about the arrest of one more person.
Some reports including Forensic, FSL, and post-mortem are yet to come so it will take more time to investigate the case, ADG added.
When asked about the involvement of another person arrested by the SIT, ADG said there was evidence against him in connection with the case.
Earlier, the SIT had arrested the accused SPO, Deepak Khajuria (28) of Hiranagar in the case. “The SIT has collected solid evidence which proves his involvement in the crime. Police had added section 376 RPC (rape) against in the FIR after arrest of the SPO.
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