SrinagarProtests broke out on the Kathua highway on Thursday after a minor Bakarwal girl who had been missing for a week was found dead in Hiranagar grazing lands yesterday.
Her family and the community alleged that the police had taken the matter lightly when they informed it of the girls disappearance in writing, and the case echoed in the legislature where the deputy speaker asked the government to conduct a thorough probe.
Eight-year-old Asifa Bano was found dead by a nomad on Wednesday, following which the police has filed an FIR under murder charges.
According to the victims relatives, the girl had taken some horses for watering in the mountains around their village, Rasana in Hiranagar, their shortly after noon on January 10.
When she did not return till late, we went looking for the child but failed to locate her, the victims relative Tufail Ahmad was quoted by the GNS as having said.
The next day we approached the police station in Hiranagar with a complaint about the girls disappearance but the personnel did not take the matter seriously, he said.
The Bakarwal nomads in their area belong to the minority community and are not treated well by the rest of the population, he claimed.
He said that they had called all their relatives about the missing girl.
We searched far and wide but did not find her, Tufail said.
Yesterday (Wednesday) morning a nomad who had been grazing animals called us and told us about having found the girls body.
We rushed to spot and called police who took the body to the Kathua hospital for postmortem
According to Tufail, neighbours and relatives held protests on the highway to Kathua, demanding that the girls killers be traced.
Police had initially registered a case (FIR number 10/2018) under section 363 of the RPC.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) for the district, Suleman Choudary said that authorities were waiting for the hospital report.
The FIR has been converted to 302 RPC (murder). The medical report is expected in a couple of days, he said.
The officer denied the familys allegations of non-seriousness, saying that police had started its investigations right from the day family had come with their complaint.
If the family of the victim has claimed any non-seriousness by the police station, I will look into it and if any lapses found on their part, action will be initiated accordingly, he said.
To solve the murder of the minor girl, we have constituted an SIT headed by SDPO border Kathua.
Meanwhile, the deputy speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Nazir Ahmad Gurezi, asked the government to conduct a thorough probe into the mysterious death of the minor.
As soon as the days proceedings began, MLA Vikar Rasool Wani, joined by several other legislators, raised the issue in the House.
The deputy speaker also directed the government to come forward a statement in the house in this regard. with inputs from GNS
Uproar in House
The proceedings of assembly were marred on Thursday after the opposition created an uproar over the murder of a minor girl in Kathua district.
As soon as the assembly started proceedings of the day, opposition National Conference (NC) and the Congress legislators stood up agitating against the murder of 8-year-old girl belonging to a nomad ‘Bakerwal’ (goatherd) family in Kathua district.
The girl had reportedly been abducted a week back and her body was found on Wednesday from Hira Nagar.
NC and Congress MLAs alleged that minorities were not safe in the Jammu region and that the police had made no effort to trace the girl after she was abducted.
Abdul Rehman Veeri, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, said a special team had been constituted to investigate the murder.
Not satisfied with the Minister’s reply, the opposition walked out of the house, shouting slogans against the government.
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