Kathua Gangrape: We Would be Shot Dead if They Are Freed, Fears 8-year-old Victim’s Mother

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has also said there is no need for a CBI probe into the case.

New Delhi, May 7: A day ahead of Supreme Court’s hearing in the alleged brutal gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir,  the mother of the victim wants the accused to be hanged. “If they are set free, we four (me, my husband and two other children) would be shot dead,” the mother feared. Speaking to a leading news channel the victim’s mother alleged that local politicians are forcing them to agree to a probe by the Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI).

“They want to save the accused,” the mother claimed and said that her family wants the Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir police to continue the probe in connection with the case. “If the police had acted when we first filed a complaint, the child could have been saved but they sat on it for seven days,” the mother told NDTV.

On being asked about Sanji Ram who had recently told the Supreme Court that he was was like a grandfather to the child and is innocent, the girl’s mother broke down and said ‘Koi Begunaah Nahi Hai’ (no one is innocent).  On Friday, while demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the months-old case to find the “real culprits”, Sanji Ram said that he was being framed by the police officers.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has also said there is no need for a CBI probe into the case. “If you don’t trust J&K Police, there is no one left to be trusted in the state,” Mufti reportedly said.

Earlier in January this year, an eight-year-old girl from the Bakarwal community was kidnapped, drugged and kept in the temple managed by Sanji Ram. She was repeatedly drugged and gangraped. The eight-year-old had gone missing on January 10 while grazing horses in the forest. Investigators said the accused abducted the girl on the pretext of helping her find her horses.

On January 14, she was strangulated and also bludgeoned to death to make sure she was dead. A police sub-inspector, a head constable, and two special police officers have also been charged for taking a bribe to destroy the evidence.