Asifa Bano: A victim in life, death and post-death

KATHMANDU: Investigation over the gang-rape and cold-blooded murder of an eight-year-old girl has highlighted religious tensions in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Asifa Bano, an eight year old was grazing horses on January 10 in Kathua, a district of Jammu and Kashmir, when a farm-worker lured her away. She was confined in a small Hindu temple, drugged, raped for five days by a group of men and later strangled, killed with a rock.

Little Asifa Bano's body was found, lifeless, on January 18. Asifa's father Muhammad Yusuf Pujwala told BBC that he was sitting outside his home when his neighbour came running towards him, with the news of Asifa being found, albeit dead.

According to the state police, the attack in January was a pre-planned one, as a way to terrify the nomadic Muslim herders into leaving the area. Temple custodian Sanji Ram, a staunch opponent of the settlement of the Muslim tribe, has been held as the major planner of the horrific crime.

However, the arrest of Ram, his co-perpetrators and police officers has made way for the region to split along religious lines.

According to the BBC, the story made national headlines this week after Hindu right-wing groups protested the arrest of the accused, who also belonged to a Hindu community.

Protests are now rife in Hindu-majority Jammu where lawyers tried stopping the police from filing a charge sheet and two ministers from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party were seen supporting the accused in a rally.

People have taken to the streets protesting the rape and eventual murder and demanding justice for the victim while leader of the main opposition party, Indian National Congress, Rahul Gandhi led a march against the rape at midnight on Thursday.

Meanwhile, social media users, from across the globe, from all walks of life, have condemned and expressed rage over the incident, through hashtags #JusticeForAsifa #Asifa #Kathua which instantly gained momentum.

These are not human beings, they are demons. The entire country should stand for #JusticeForAsifa. It is horrifying that such a crime could happen in India, that too in a place of worship. #AsifaBano

— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) April 12, 2018

How can anyone protect the culprits of such evil?

What happened to Asifa at #Kathua is a crime against humanity. It cannot go unpunished.

What have we become if we allow politics to interfere with such unimaginable brutality perpetrated on an innocent child?

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 12, 2018

How many more children like baby Asifa will be sacrificed at the intersect of religion & politics? How many more children will have to suffer unimaginable crimes before we wake up? I’m disgusted. It’s time for swift action. We owe it to Asifa and to humanity. #justiceforAsifa.

— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) April 12, 2018

THEY are monsters, they drugged, raped and murdered a little girl. THEY are monsters, they defended the crime in the name of religion.

WE are monsters if we don’t raise our voices and make sure they are punished...#JusticeforAsifa #LoveForAsifa #HumanityForAsifa #IndiaForAsifa pic.twitter.com/8rIqGvik8y

— Aditi Rao Hydari (@aditiraohydari) April 13, 2018

More than token condemnations of the #Asifa rape, to show it means business @MehboobaMufti must sack the two ministers who publicly supported her rapists. @narendramodi himself could also do the same. Else all this is just rhetorical with no real consequences. #justiceforasifa

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) April 13, 2018

#JusticeforAsifa RIP little angel. pic.twitter.com/ikJr8QABnw

— Armeena Khan (@ArmeenaRK) April 13, 2018

Hinduism is the philosophy of the soul,atma and brahma. Hindutva is nothing to do with Hinduism, it’s violent obsessive hatred for Muslims. It’s not pro Hindu, it’s only anti Muslim. #JusticeforAsifa

— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) April 13, 2018

Every child deserves to be protected, to learn, to play, to be loved and nurtured. They are the future! A crime against a child is a crime against the people. #JusticeforAsifa

— Manushi Chhillar (@ManushiChhillar) April 13, 2018

Our hearts burn with tears & rage. #JusticeForOurChild#Kathua#JusticeforAsifa pic.twitter.com/TBaGVCpqZw

— Mini Mathur (@minimathur) April 13, 2018

(Cover image: BBC)