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Jammu Lawyer Who Fought Kathua Rape-and-Murder Case Booked for ‘Hurting Religious Feelings’

Advocate Deepika Singh Rajawat.
Advocate Deepika Singh Rajawat.

JAMMU – The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday booked an advocate for hurting the ‘religious sentiments’ of a community. Police sources said advocate Deepika Singh Rajawat has been booked under sections 295A and 505 (b) (2) of the IPC for creating enmity and hatred between different classes of people.

Rajawat, who shot to fame in 2018 for representing the 8-year-old Asifa’s family in the Kathua rape-and-murder case, had last week expressed fears that she could be attacked after several right-wing groups were outside her house to protest against her tweet.

In the tweet, on October 19, Rajawat posted a cartoon showing a man touching the feet of the deity during Navratri and the same man holding both the legs of a woman during the rest of the days and captioned it ‘Irony’.

The tweet drew outrage from the Hindutva activists claiming that she had targeted the Hindu community. Several members of right-wing organisations gathered around her house in Jammu and shouted threatening slogans against her. She had to seek police help to disperse the mob.

In her response, Rajawat said that her intention was not to hurt the religious sentiments of Hindu brothers and sisters as she was herself Hindu and observing Navratri. She told the media that she was trying to highlight the hypocritical approaches towards women in society as she had been witnessing sexual crimes against women daily.

Police sources said action would be taken after the cyber cell reports on the origin of the tweet and other technical details.

Asifa, the 8-year old tribal Bakarwal (Goatherd) girl, was kidnapped, sedated and repeatedly raped and later murdered in the Rasana village in Jammu’s Kathua district in 2018. Rajawat represented the family of Asifa. The case was tried in the district and sessions court in neighbouring Pathankot town of Punjab.

All the accused were subsequently sentenced by the trial court in this heinous crime that shook the entire nation.

Two of the then BJP ministers had joined rallies in support of the accused. Both the ministers were later dropped from the then PDP-BJP coalition government headed by Mehbooba Mufti for their support to the accused.

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