Kathua Rape Case: FIRs filed against Jammu lawyers obstructing police, Bar on protest

In the midst of the investigation into the gruesome rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua district, lawyers of the Jammu High Court Bar Association (JHBA) undertook protests today, demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter..The Association called for a bandh today, after FIRs were lodged against a number of lawyers who obstructed the police from presenting the chargesheet against the nine accused of raping and murdering the child to the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Kathua..On Monday, the District Bar Association of Kathua, with support from the JHBA, resolved to call for a Jammu-wide bandh on April 11. The release signed by advocate Kirty Bhushan Mahajan states,.“All of the Bar members strongly condemned the conduct of the Crime Branch in dealing the issue. The State Government has failed to deal the issue or understand the sentiments of the people. The agitation of the Bar proved successful and the Crime Branch was compelled to go back and the challan could not be presented in the court of LD Chief Judicial Magistrate Kathua (sic).”.Here is a video of the lawyers protesting and chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram‘..Court work at Jammu has been suspended since April 4, with lawyers making a number of demands, including a CBI probe into the Kathua rape and deportation of Rohingya Muslims from the area. The JHBA intends to keep protesting till April 12..The case has assumed communal overtones, even as the nine accused were brought to book. An organisation called the Hindu Ekta Manch protested the arrest of one of their members Deepak Khajuria, who allegedly abducted the victim, who is from the Bakherwal community (Muslim), and kept her in confinement for seven days. Two BJP ministers — Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga — visited the protesters and supported their demand for a CBI probe..The actions of the Jammu Bar have been criticized by several lawyers’ bodies across the country. The Lawyers Forum For Democracy and Justice in its press release stated,.“We condemn the obstruction of the filing of charge sheet in the said matter, as inhuman, illegal, unethical and shameful. We hope that better sense will prevail and the legal community facilitates justice rather than obstructing functioning of the criminal justice system. .We request the Bar Council of Jammu & Kashmir and Bar Council of India to take appropriate disciplinary action against the erring advocates. We further request that the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Supreme Court of India to take immediate measures to prevent further miscarriage of justice to the eight year old victim of the horrific crime and to transfer the trial in the matter to another State.”.The Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) pointed to an increasing trend within the legal community to “browbeat or intimidate people based on divisive or communal agendas”. References were made to the Kanhaiya Kumar case at Patiala House and other similar incidents at Goa and Udaipur. The IAPL statement says,.“We demand that the Kathua Bar Association withdraw its resolution which is arbitrary and unconstitutional, stop interfering in the investigation, and let the justice system take its course. We demand a free and fair investigation and trial in the matter.”.Read the Kathua Bar Association’s resolution dated April 9:. Image courtesy: Twitter