NEW DELHI, Apr 7:
Writer Madhu Kishwar today released her new book on the rape-and-murder of a minor girl in Kathua in 2018 and claimed to have “exposed a sinister misinformation campaign to persecute Hindus in Jammu”.
The book, “The Girl from Kathua: A Sacrificial Victim of Ghazwa-e-Hind”, shows that the whole case was “fabricated as part of a sinister jihadi plot to change the religious demography of Kathua district” in Jammu province, the author said.
The eight-year-old girl was kidnapped on January 10, 2018 and raped after being kept sedated for four days in a small village temple.
A special court on June 10, 2019 sentenced three people to life imprisonment “till last breath” in the case, while three others were handed down five years in jail and Rs 50,000 fine each.
One accused was acquitted and another was treated a juvenile by the court. The latter was declared an adult by the Supreme Court in November 2022.
Speaking at the book launch, Kishwar claimed that eight Hindus of Kathua district were “trapped” in the case.
She said the “humongous publicity given to the murder of this unknown girl from an unknown village in Jammu province” forced her to ask how did the campaign for justice for the girl “become a cause celebre within hours of the release of the charge sheet by the Mehbooba Mufti Government, not just in India but worldwide.”
She added that upon investigating the case personally in April 2018, she found the “bizarre, absurd charge sheet full of gaping holes”, while alleging that hundreds of innocents were tortured by the police to give false testimonies.
The book release event was attended by Rajya Sabha MP Sonal Mansingh and retired Major General G D Bakshi.
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