Told PM ministers had to go: Mehbooba

Arun Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 20

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said she had put the state police in a “do-or-die” mode to bring the culprits to book when the horrendous case of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old Kathua girl surfaced.

In an interview to The Tribune, the CM, speaking on the case that brought the three-year-old PDP-BJP alliance to a breaking point, said now she was looking toward the judiciary for justice after the chargesheet had been filed and the accused were in jail.

On whether she had served an ultimatum on the Centre on BJP ministers Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, who resigned later, Mehbooba said, “I had spoken to the Prime Minister and told him that they had to go because they had participated in ‘pro-rapist’ rallies.” This, she said, was “unacceptable” and the “PM was also shocked to learn this”.

As for Cabinet expansion, she said it would take place this month itself.

Mehbooba, who faced a lot of flak over the handling of the case which polarised the state on communal and political lines, said she had deliberately avoided visiting the victim’s village because the chargesheet mentioned temple (as the site of crime).

“I did not want things to flare up as the Amarnath Yatra is scheduled in the next few months. I did meet the family; they sought justice, I promised them the same.”

On charges that she had favoured a tribal policy that was seen as her patronage to change the Hindu majority demographics in the Jammu plains, she asserted that it was the “other way round”. “Look at the chargesheet, it states clearly that the whole conspiracy behind the crime was to drive the tribes out of the area.”

Mehbooba termed it a “hypothetical” question when asked whether she would hand over the inquiry to the CBI if the court directed so as some media reports quoting medical records claimed that the girl was not raped. “How I wish it could be true,” the CM said.