Aasif Mujtaba Profile picture
Journalist and Research Scholar | IIT Delhi ||Shaheen Bagh Movement || Byline - @TCNLive | @YouthKiAwaaz | @BeyondHeadlines | @Medium || Founder:@miles2smile_

Jan 10, 2023, 15 tweets

#ShubhamSangra, declared an adult by the Supreme Court in Asifa rape & murder case is finally chargesheeted by the J&K Crime Branch. What all happened in this horrendous case that shook the entire nation, a thread+

On January 12, 2018, Muhammad Yusuf filed a complaint before Hiranagar Police station that his 8 yrs old daughter Asifa has gone missing since January 10,2018. She went to watch the grazing horses but didn’t return. +

In 17 January, 2018, the body of Asifa was found & post-mortem was done on the same day at District hospital in Kathua. On Jan 22, the case was transferred to J&K Crime branch+

A total of 8 people were arrested, including 4 policemen. 2 policemen were arrested on charges of destroying the evidence. The chargesheet against 7 adults were filed on April 9, 2018 and they were charged with Sections 302, 376, 201 and 120-B of the Ranbir Penal Code of J&K +

The post-mortem of Asifa showed heavy presence of #Clonazepam, a sedative. The main accused Sanjhi Ram, was the priest of the ‘Devasthanam’ (temple ) where Asifa was drugged, raped for several days & murdered.

His son Vishal, his nephew, police officers Deepak Khajuria & Parvesh Kumar, Head constable Tilak Raj & Sub Inspector Arvind Dutta were other culprits+

Its is now clear #ShubhamSangra administered the sedative that rendered Asifa incapable to resist the attack. Many doctors opined that with the amount of #Clonazepam found in her blood , she could have slept into Coma. Even at this condition, she was mercilessly raped for days +

What was the most shameful episode, was a support rally under “Hindu Ekta Manch”who took out a Tiranga rally for the support of this heinous crime. The rally was even attended by 2 BJP ministers +

Even at the time of her burial, local hindu people stopped her family in burying her into the family burial ground. At last hours, she was finally buried to another graveyard+

One of the reason of such ghastly act was , Asifa belonged to a Nomadic Muslim community that was hated by the acused. There were demands to shift the case to CBI as it was perceived that being a central agency under BJP government, they can dilute the case +

But all attempts by the Right wing were stopped by the SC,
On 7May, 2018, SC also shifted the case from J&K to Pathankot in Punjab
On 10 June, 2019, six of the seven defendants were found guilty. Sanjhi Ram, Deepak Kathuria & Pravesh Kumar were given life sentences for 25 yrs+

-Tilak Raj, Anand Dutta & Surender Verma were given 5 yrs punishment for destroying evidences. On Dec 16 , 2021 , the sentence of Constable Tilak Raj was suspended & was released on bail+

On Dec 21, 2021, the Punjab & Haryana HC suspended the remaining sentence & granted bail to Anand Dutta. He was charged with accepting Rs 4 lakh from Sanji Ram to destroy evidence +

The 7th accused was #ShubhamSangra , who is finally chargesheeted after instructions from the SC.
5 yers might have passed, but the brutal rape & murder of Asifa & the shameless support rallies will still be counted as the darkest blot on India’s consciousness.

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