April 14, 2018 03:30:30 | Rising Kashmir News

‘Culprits must be b0oked and punished’

After two rightwing BJP ministers tendered their resignations to the party president following scathing criticism over rape and murder of minor girl, Minister for Forest, Choudhary Lal Singh said they (ministers) attended the rally on the instructions of the party’s top brass.

“I and my colleague Chander Prakash Ganga attended Hindu Ekta Manch rally on the instructions of party president Sat Sharma,” Lal Singh told Rising Kashmir.

“This was done to understand and prevent the tension from growing further,” he said.

Lal Singh and Minister for Commerce and Industries, Chander Parkash Ganga had visited Kathua to participate in the Hindu Ekta Manch’s rally.

“Question doesn’t arise of me supporting the perpetrators of this heinous crime,” he said. “The culprits should be strictly punished for carrying out this brutal rape and murder”.

Asked why did he support HEM’s demand of handing over the case to the CBI, Singh said, “What was harm in handing over the case to CBI if it was to prevent tension in Kathua case”.

“The situation in Kathua is going from bad to worse. A sense of fear has engulfed our Gujjar community and it is not going to solve the problems,” he said.

In a late evening development today, both the senior ministers were asked to submit their resignation to safeguard the ruling government amid apprehensions that PDP may break the alliance with their coalition partner.

The development comes after outrage over brutal rape and murder of the 8-year-old girl.

The minor girl was gangraped thrice inside the Devasthan or prayer hall, after the mastermind had performed rituals. The girl was confined using sedatives, then strangled and hit on the head twice with a stone.

The brutal gang rape and murder of eight-year-old Gujjar Muslim girl has exposed the communal faultlines in Jammu & Kashmir.