Early Times Report
JAMMU, May 6: Yet another controversy. Yet another cause of confrontation between the coalition partners. This time the controversy has been created by the J&K BJP itself, which will further dent its image, further anger the already angry people of Jammu province and further embitter the already rather bitter relations between the PDP and the BJP.
On Friday evening, the IT Cell of the J&K BJP uploaded the video on its website. It was labeled "A big expose on Kathua facts". It featured Delhi-based Supreme Court lawyer Monika Arora. The IT cell not only uploaded the video, but also issued appeals to WhatsApp groups to share the clip on social networking sites. Monika Arora was part of an "independent" five-member team that recently visited Jammu on "a fact-finding mission" into the alleged rape and murder in Rasana village in Kathua district. Its other members were Meera Khadkkar, retired district judge, Nagpur; Sarjana Sharma, Kashmir journalist; Sonali Chitalkar, assistant professor, Department of Political Science, Miranda House, Delhi University; and, Monicca Agarwaal, a social activist. The five-member team based its report on the "testimonies" of families of the accused, their lawyer Ankur Sharma and the Jammu & Kashmir High Court Bar Association JAMMU (JKHCBAJ) whose associates, the Kathua Bar Association, had last month allegedly tried to prevent J&K police from filing its charge sheet in court. As was expected, the uploading of the video triggered a major controversy with elements in Kashmir describing this move as a "direct support" to the agitating people of Hiranagar, who had been demanding CBI probe into the whole case since day one saying "CBI probe alone could bring to justice the real culprits and save the innocents from harassment, torture and victimization". Fearing that the uploading of the video could create fissures in the coalition, the BJP fielded its chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi to assuage the feelings of the PDP. Sethi said that the fact-finding committee submitted its report to Minister of State in the PMO Dr Jitendra Singh Thursday, and added that the uploading of the video on the part's website didn't mean that the BJP had accepted the report. "The fact-finding committee has submitted its report to Minister of State in the PMO Dr Jitendra Singh Thursday. Because the report has been given to the government, we uploaded it on our website. However, it does not mean that we are accepting the report,'' Sunil Sethi was quoted as saying.
By saying what the J&K BJP chief spokesperson said about the uploading of the video, the BJP has only further alienated the people of Jammu.
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