Amid Rage, Police Arrests 15-Year-Old For Kathua Girl’s Murder

Srinagar—Amid outcry for the second day over the mysterious death of a minor Bakarwal girl in Kathua, the government on Friday said that the district police had arrested a fifteen-year-old boy who had, reportedly, confessed to having killed the victim.

Investigations were on to collect more evidence of the boy’s involvement in the crime, minister for law and parliamentary affairs, Abdul Rahman Veeri, told an angry and restive Lower House.

The eight-year-old girl, Asifa Bano, found dead in the forests near her native village Rasana in Hiranagar on Wednesday, had been missing since January 10 when she had taken some horses for watering in the neighbourhood.

Without going into the details of how the police had zeroed in on the boy, the revenue minister told the House that a Special Investigation Team had found that he had kidnapped the girl, and put her in a cowshed in the Rasana village.

The minister, the investigations headed by the Sub Divisional Police Officer at Chadwal had revealed that the boy had ‘attempted to rape’ the girl, and when she resisted, killed her by strangulation.

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According to a statement from the Kathua police, the boy had also admitted to having the hit the victim’s face and head with a stone to disfigure her.

The minister also said in the House that the victim’s father, Muhammad Yusuf, had a told the police in a written complaint on Jan 12 that his daughter had not returned from grazing their horses in the nearby forests.

The father and others had conducted searches in the forests for the next two days but failed to trace the girl, the minister said.

“As per the content of the application, a case (FIR No: 10/2018) under section 363 RPC was registered and investigations started,” the minister said.

“During the course of investigation, a police party of Police Station Hiranagar and VDC Badoli visited the spot and a search of the Rasana forests was conducted along with civilians and Bakarwals residing in the area,” he said.

“On 17.01.2017, at about 1030 hours, the dead body of the missing girl was recovered from the Rasana forest area. Thereafter the police team along with SDPO and SHO Hiranagar visited the spot and photography of the dead body was conducted through crime photographer, service of FSL team was also utilized. The dead body of deceased was taken into police custody for post-mortem,” he said.

“Later on, the dead body was shifted to District Hospital Kathua for the post-mortem through a team of doctors. After the post-mortem, the dead body was handed over to the family for last rites,” he said

“Investigation of the case is in progress to collect more evidence about the commission of offence by the accused,” he said.

According to reports, minister for works Naeem Akhtar also made a statement on the issue in the Upper House.

Protests were also held at several places in the state against the killings. People staged a protest demonstration near Tawi Bridge in Jammu against the brutal killing of the minor girl.

“We are protesting against the negligence of SHO. The doctors are also tight-lipped over the medical report. We suspect that they want to hush-up the case,” Talib said.

The protesters demanded strict action against those responsible for the heinous crime.

Protests were held in many parts of Kashmir including Maisuma and Hyderpora and from Jammu division’s Kathua, Ramban, Surnkote, Poonch, Doda and Gandoh. The protesters were demanding the action against the culprits.

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