The 8-Year-Old Victim Of The Kathua Rape Case Finally Receives Due Justice

Justice prevailed! 6 out of 7 accused in the Kathua Rape case have been convicted by the Supreme Court today.

The eight-year-old victim of brutality and communal hate has finally received justice. The Kathua rape case, a case that shook the entire nation with its inhumanity rooted in communal hatred has finally arrived at due justice. The final verdict on the case was delivered by a special court in Pathankot today.

The mastermind and former government officer Sanji Ram and five other accused with him have been convicted. However, Sanji Ram’s son has been acquitted because of lack of evidence.

In January, an 8-year-old girl belonging to the nomadic Bakarwal Muslim tribe in the Kathua District of Jammu and Kashmir was tortured, drugged, brutally gang raped repeatedly and then barbarically killed. Investigations revealed that the seven accused committed this crime as a part of a planned strategy to create fear. They wanted to scare away the Bakarwal Muslim community who were allegedly acquiring a lot of land in the Hindu dominated Jammu.

All of this violence was perpetrated by people who thought of themselves as ‘the guardians of the Hindu religion’.

A case where the accused drew enormous support

The innocence of an 8-year-old was mercilessly snatched away from her to comfort the religious beliefs of a few. Not only this, amidst the nationwide outrage, a significant mass of people came in to support the accused.

The Hindu right wing in Jammu organized a protest in support of the accused and alleged that the government was not conducting a proper probe. Many leaders openly came out in support of the accused. A lot of communal tension was created in the country, because obviously, politics and religion are more important than humanity right?

This heinous crime still makes us wonder how far people can go to support their ideology.

Despite the fact that the rapists were supported openly by some, the Kathua Rape case was also one that shook the entire nation and even united many against the common enemy – communal hatred.

Now after a year, this verdict given today is the hope that the criminals will get the punishment they deserve, and that justice will still prevail, despite the attempts to evade it in this case.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Nishtha Pandey

I read, I write, I dream and search for the silver lining in my life.

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