- And the ugly face of Hindu nationalism – (1)
Living in the outskirts of a small Jammu town, Asifa was an 8-year daughter of a nomadic Muslim family, helping the family in herding its livestock. On 10 January 2018, at 12:00 noon she went to the jungle with family horses and was last spotted by 14:00 hours with the grazing horses. However, the horses returned at 16:00 hours without the girl accompanying them. Muhammad Yousuf, Asifa’s father, along with other family members and friends started searching the forests for any clue about her. On 12-1-2018, Yousuf filed a complaint in the nearby police station alleging that Asifa may have been kidnapped by a miscreant.
On 17-1-2018, based on information from someone who was searching his missing horse in the nearby forest, the dead body of Asifa was recovered. After postmortem, further investigation led to the arrest of a boy Shubam Sangra (he was expelled from school for pedaling alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, poor education record, and the family sent him to his uncle Sanji Ram) from the nearby locality. Sangra admitted that he used to meet Asifa in the forest who would frequently ask him about missing horses. In one such encounter on 10-1-2018, he asked her to come with her to search for the horses. He took her to a shed in his uncle’s barn and gaged her, tied her with the string of her shalwar. He fed her in the evening and gaged her thereafter and kept her in this condition for several days. Finally, he took her out and while approaching the point from where he had kidnapped her, he attempted to rape her, which she resisted and threatened that she would inform about this to her family. At that point he decided to kill her. He used her scarf (dupatta) to strangulate her, at which she started spitting blood and then he used a stone to smash her head. He waited for some time to ensure that she was dead before returning home, where he removed all the remains from her captivity in the barn.
Despite this shocking confessional statement, police authorities were not fully convinced of the story. Sangra was arrested and sent to juvenile home. The case, on the other hand, was transferred on 27-1-2018 to crime branch for further investigation. Sangra was again questioned in the presence of a social worker and his father and in the light of further information collected from additional arrests made by the police. The details pieced together from the second round of investigation paled the shock and astonishment contained in Sangra’s version.
According to the plan, a car was to transport the body to the culvert for throwing it in the canal. But the car did not come. The body was then taken to the temple where it was dumped for two days
The real mastermind behind the episode was one Sanji Ram, the uncle of Sangra, who hatched the plot of dislodging the Bakarwal community (nomads) from the area as their presence was considered a threat to the Dogra (Hindu) community. Ram was contemplating to do something to them, which would terrify the nomads and force them to leave the area.
He elicited the participation of his nephew Sangra, a friend who was a special police officer (SPO), Deepak Kumar Khajuria (and shared the prejudice against Bakarwal) and Deepak’s friend Pravesh Kumar in the conspiracy. The plan envisaged that Asifa who brings family horses for grazing would be lured by Sangra and kidnapped. Sedatives (epitral) were purchased for immediate administration. Deepak promised Sangra to get him passed (through cheating) in his school exam. Ram was also the in charge of a nearby temple Devisthan, where the girl was to be removed once kidnapped. The plan was executed on 10-1-2018 as the girl approached the vicinity of Ram’s residence, and asked a woman about her missing horse. Sangra heard the girl’s voice and rushed to meet her and offered to locate her missing horse. He also alerted other accomplices who would soon seize the girl and leave her unconscious after administering medicine and took her to the temple. Sangra raped her the same day. Subsequently, Deepak and Pravesh raped her. Then Sangra telephoned Ram’s son, Vishal Jangotra, who was studying in Meerut, and after informing him of Asifa’s kidnapping, invited him to come and fulfill his lust. He arrived the following morning around 6:00 am and immediately the two visited Devisthan and raped the still unconscious girl and administered further medicine. Ram was fully aware of the comings and goings at the temple.
In the meanwhile, a police party came to Sanji Ram residence along with girl’s father Yousuf and inquired for the whereabouts of the girl to which he feigned ignorance. However, one police constable, Tilak Raj, who was an old acquaintance, confided with Ram that things were heating up and to sway the investigation away from him, investigation officer (IO) needs to be bribed. Sangra’s mother and Ram’s sister came to Ram who told her that her son was involved in the kidnapping and rape of the girl and to keep the police away Rs5 lac is to be given to IO. He gave her Rs1.25 lac immediately and asked her to give it to Tilak (who was his childhood class mate) for passing on to IO. This process of exchange of bribes in several installments would continue for several days as IO would oblige Ram by diverting investigation away from him.
Back to the temple, Ram was getting nervous and told Sangra and Pravesh to take the girl from the temple and kill her, dumping the body in a culvert. When Deepak learnt of the new orders, he rushed to them sending an advance message that he wanted to rape the girl once more before she was killed. She was again given a heavy dose of medicine and afterward Deepak raped her. Thereafter, he attempted to strangulate her while keeping her neck on his thigs but was not successful. Then Sangra came forward and strangulated her by using her dupatta around the neck while she was held by Deepak. Afterward, he picked a heavy stone and smashed her head to ensure her death.
According to the plan, a car was to transport the body to the culvert for throwing it in the canal. But the car did not come. The body was then taken to the temple where it was dumped for two days. The second day, Ram told Sangra and Jangotra that the car would not be coming so they better dispose of the body in the forest as Devisthan was to host a festival in a few days, which is organised and led by Ram, and keeping the body during those days was dangerous. The two then fetched the dead body and held her on their shoulders and carried to the forest and dumped her near where she had lost her horse, which was spotted by someone who was searching for a missing horse and he informed the police.
Tilak Raj, HC, came to Ram and confided that huge pressure was building in the case and he should better turnover the boy to police. Ram persuaded him to offer some more money to the IO so that the investigation would not reach him. Tilak gladly agreed and another Rs1.25 lac given to him for the IO. The IO, on his part, was not able to sway the case entirely away from Ram and suggested that Ram should let Sangra admit the crime so that Ram and others would be spared. He therefore contrived the initial Sangra version as he took the boy to the barn and coached him in the story, showing the description of the place, took his pictures and then took him to the place where the girl was murdered and gave a stone in his hand and photographed him, to claim discovery of the weapon used in the murder. All concocted to mislead the investigation protect Ram, Khajuria, Kumar, Jangotra and Devisthan, the scene of the crime.
The crime branch had unearthed the plan and charged Sanji Ram, his nephew, Sangra, son, Jangotra, SPO Deepak Khajuria, his friend Pravesh Kumar, HC Tilak Raj, IO Anand Dutta and another police officer who connived with Khajuria in providing him information about movements of Bakarwal people in and around the Devisthan. The charge sheet was filed in the district and session court. [To be concluded]
