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| Migration from Rassana a failure of BJP | | Hiranagar on the boil | | R.B. Suri | 3/1/2018 11:09:33 PM |
| Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 1: Things in Hiranagar tehsil of Kathua district and Ghagwal in Samba district are assuming alarming proportions. The situation has reached to a point where the people belonging the majority community are feeling insecure and threatened as the civil and police authorities, according to the Hindu Ekta Manch, "have unleashed a reign of atrocities on the innocent people leading to the migration of at least 15 families from Rassana village to the nearby Koota for safety".
Hindu Ekta Manch is a conglomerate of several socio-political organizations. A senior BJP leader from Hiranagar is its head and all the local Congress and NC leaders are part of the Manch. It was formed after an unfortunate incident took place in Rassana village. A minor girl belonging to the minority community had been allegedly raped and murdered and her body was found a week later. Members of the minority community lodged a strong protest a number of times demanding justice for the girl. They even blocked the national highway at Hiranagar for hours.
The issue took a communal turn when lawmakers belonging to the state's majority community in and outside the assembly took the plunge and took on the Chief Minister for mishandling the case. Leader of the Opposition Omar Abdullah even went to the extent of saying that any move on her part to snatch the case from the Crime Branch and hand it over to the CBI would mean that she had knelt to save her chair. The worst part was that elements in the establishment and outside pronounced the apprehended accused persons, including a SPO guilty even before the trial.
The best way to avoid confrontation and polarization was to accept the demand of the victim's family and of the families of the accused as well as the Hindu Ekta Manch seeking a CBI probe into the unfortunate incident and find out the whole truth so that the real culprit could be punished by a court of law. But it was not to be. The authorities rejected outright the CBI probe and instead, allowed the Crime Branch to continue with the probe business. The people of Hiranagar, Koota, Ghagwal, nay the minority community in Kathua district, have expressed no faith in the Crime Branch, saying "its whole approach was one-sided and it is picking up person after person as if the whole of the population was involved in the heinous crime". The Crime Branch has arrested at least 7 persons so far, including a school going boy.
Instead of diffusing the situation by conceding the demand for a CBI probe, the authorities adopted a tough approach and the result was 15 families migrated to Higher Secondary School, Koota, for safety. As if all this was not enough, the Crime Branch allegedly used strong and provocative method to silence the dissent and picked up nearly 150 persons, saying they had violated Section 144, which was imposed in the area some two weeks ago.
The nature of anger of the protesting people could be measured from the fact that they refused to seek bail saying they were not criminals and that they had been protesting in a peaceful manner.
The situation as it prevails today in Kathua district in general and Hiranagar, Rassana, Koota and the all the nearby villages is dangerous. It could take any turn. And if it at all happens, the results would be disastrous. There would be more polarization and the state would witness inter-regional bitterness and animosity.
It's time for the ruling BJP, which represents the area from Basohli to Kathua to Hiranagar to Rassana to Ghagwal to Samba to Vijaypur to Jammu and so on, to assert its position and authority and make the state government accept the people's demand seeking a CBI probe into the whole unfortunate incident. It would suffer huge political losses if it fails to intervene without taking sides. Justice has to be delivered to the victim and it has to be ensured that no accused was punished unheard. CBI probe is the only way out to diffuse the potentially dangerous situation. |
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