Asifa, Rape of Innocence.

The country is burning with anger on the rape and murder of the 8-year-old, Asifa Bano. The incident which took place in January 2018 has recently got national attention, with tweets flowing from all over the country to punish the culprits and provide justice to the deceased. Politicians planning a vigil, youths coming out on the roads, activists going on hunger strike and what not. It’s time like this when a country comes together for a cause or a person that makes the system hear the cries of many minors, whose cases are lost in time and don’t get much media attention. This case, in particular, came to light when some lawyers didn’t allow the police to file a charge sheet against the accused in the brutal rape and murder of Asifa Bano. They demanded a CBI probe in the case which was already due to finish with the help of the self-testimony of one of the accused. The Bar Association of Jammu opposed the action stating that the police were targetting the minority Dogras (the community of the accused men). However, in the official charge sheet filed by the police. The accused testified that the incident was well planned off from the first week of January in order to dislodge the Bakarwal community (community to which the minor belonged). After facing a huge backlash from the whole nation. The bar association of Jammu now states that their opposition was portrayed as communal by those with a “Kashmir-centric mindset”. Though, how bone chilling the incidents are, could have been diverted if there was one ounce of sense and shame left in the so-called religious hypocrites. The main accused Shubham Sangra knew Asifa from before, as she used to inquire him about her lost horses. He used this innocent trust of Asifa to lure and later kidnapped her. Shubham was directed by his maternal uncle to do this. His maternal uncle, Sanji Ram along with Deepak Khajuria, an SPO in Police Department are the main accused who planned this barbaric rape and murder. Sanji Ram’s son Vishal Jangotra came from Meerut to rape the victim in Jammu, the heights to which a human heart covets to sin. Here is the complete timeline of the case prepared by the author of this post based on the official charge sheet filed by the police. It does look like an open-shut case after the testimony of Shubham Sangra who admitted to the crime. But it raises some questions too, questions like, how did Sanji Ram acquired 5 lakh of money to win the favour of the corrupt police officers? and many more, which will be answered in due time. While this has happened, nothing could be done to bring back the laughter of Asifa back, nothing could erase the horror of seeing something of this extent happening to their daughter. Only if boys are given the wisdom to respect the opposite sex and do not see them as a sex tool, we can build a society that looks at this incident as history, not present. As for now, India stands ashamed and haunted by the cries of her daughter. This is a tragic story of how a small village in Jammu is torn between religious mocking of humanity. The girl’s family planned to bury her in their own land in Kathua which they had purchased. But after being surrounded by Hindu activists threatening them with violence, if they continued with the burial. Asifa was buried 10 km out of Kathua. The pain of the victim’s family has still not finished. On 13 April the family fled their home in Kathua in order to be safe from the communal violence that’s taking place due to the intervention of Hindu Ekta Manch, a political outfit of the Bhartiya Janta Party, which says the investigation is conducted under tremendous pressure and ask for CBI probe into the matter. In the midst of all this, mocking of humanity by a group of people who think that their religion has given them the right to teach others and not learn oneself. Is the biggest hypocrisy of India today.