On a day the Jammu High Court Bar Association (JHCBA) struck work demanding a CBI probe into the Kathua rape-cum-murder case, workers of the National Conference (NC) staged a march here today, demanding exemplary punishment to those involved in the crime.
Led by former MLA Bimla Luthra, a group of mostly women activists took out the march from the party headquarters towards the civil secretariat, but were stopped by police after some distance, a party spokesperson said.
Accusing the PDP-BJP government for the "growing lawlessness" and for "failing to instill a sense of security among the people", Luthra demanded exemplary punishment to the guilty in the rape and murder case.
The brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old Bakerwal girl has polarised the normally peaceful town of Jammu, with the local Bar Association calling for a bandh against what it termed the "targeting of minority Dogras" while the state police had lodged a case against lawyers who allegedly tried to prevent it from filing a charge sheet against the accused.
Decrying the attempts of "communalising and politicising" the issue in a bid to deny justice to the victim, the NC leader took a dig at the BJP saying, "The brazen hypocrisy over the incident is perhaps their version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padao campaign."
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