Rakshak Turn Bhakshak: Policeman Found Involved in Rape, Murder of Minor Jammu Girl

A Special Police Officer (SPO) was allegedly involved in the brutal rape and murder of the eight-year-old Bakerwal or Gujjar community girl from Rasana village in Hiranagar tehsil of Kathua district. She was abducted on January 10, held captive for a week and raped before she was murdered. He body was found in a forest on January 17.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Branch, which is probing into the incident, found SPO Deepak Khujaria prima facie accused of carrying out the henious act. The 28-year-old has been arrested and said to have confessed that he along with a minor boy – who was arrested earlier – raped and murdered the girl after holding her captive for a week.

Khajaria – said the police – had threatened his underage co-accused with the murder of his parents if he revealed his name.

The accused was deputed at Heera Nagar police station and was part of the police team that was tasked to search the area after the nomad family filed a missing report at police station at Heera Nagar. The girl’s family had also accused him of being involved in the heinous act. It was Khujaria, according to members of the deceased family – who started hitting them with batons when they had staged a sit-in. The police action had left several injured.

“The evidence we have clearly shows his (Khajuria’s) involvement in the crime. He had a motive to do that,” said Jammu and Kashmir Additional Director General of Police Alok Puri.

Asked about the motive, he said it was aimed at “sparking fear among the nomad community”. The investigation – according to the top cop – has revealed that the kidnapping, rape and murder of the young girl was “well-planned and the girl had been targeted in advance”.

Those who were fighting for justice for the victim said they knew from day one, who was behind the crime. “We were lathicharged and I was arrested when we protested against the incident. It was Khajuria who took lead in hitting us with baton. Since then, this man was hounding the nomads of the area. We were demanding that he be arrested,” said Talib Hussain, a nomad activist.

He also said “there several other people in addition to the duo who are involved in the crime”. ADG Puri also did not rule out involvement of others.

When the incident took place, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising of police officers from Kathua was formed that revealed the involvement of the minor boy in the crime. When locals alleged that the police are trying to botch up the probe and pressed for a judicial inquiry arguing that the ‘breakthrough’ made by the SIT is merely an eyewash, the probe was handed over to another SIT led by an additional superintendent of police-rank officer Adil Raja from another district.

Following an uproar, the case was transferred to the Crime Branch.