Sullen Hindus, Grieving Bakarwals: Uneasy Calm Post Kathua Verdict

While the Hindus withdrew into rooms, avoiding media, no one from the Gujjar Bakarwal community was present.

Without the Hindu Ekta Manch, the family of the accused has found themselves without any support. Meanwhile, the Bakarwals are still coming to terms with whether any punishment can make up for their loss.

(Photo: Erum Gour/The Quint)

They held onto hope in the morning, with elders assuring them that truth would triumph, but they were devastated by that afternoon’s verdict – the relatives of the Hindu accused were reticent and hostile with the media.

While the Hindus withdrew into rooms behind wooden-framed doors within the court complex, no one from the Gujjar Bakarwal community was present. Their nomadic lifestyle has no real place for or understanding of things like court commitments – but they’re no less affected.

The Quint kept in touch with them via phone as they continued their journey up to Kargil in Kashmir.

Punjab’s Pathankot district court premises where the verdict of the Kathua rape and murder case was announced on 10 June.(Photo: Aishwarya S Iyer/The Quint)

The verdict and sentencing in the Kathua rape and murder case was announced on 10 June 2019, a year and 5 months after the 8-year-old Gujjar Bakarwal girl's body was found dumped in the Rasanna forests.

The case had polarised Jammu and Kashmir, with the Gujjar Bakarwals - a nomadic tribe, only nominally Muslim - being reclaimed as such in the national narrative, and pitted against the Hindu accused. But when the verdict finally came, it seemed a flat, anticlimactic end. There were no protests, no promises of retribution, only resigned acceptance.

Of the seven accused, six were convicted. Here’s a look at each of them:

• Sanji Ram - temple priest and main accused; chief conspirator
• Deepak Khajuria - police official who covered up the crime
• Parvesh alias Manu - the friend of the juvenile main accused (who is being tried separately)

These three have been convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh each. They have also been convicted of gang rape and sentenced to 25 years in prison with a Rs 50,000 fine each.

The other three have been convicted of destruction of evidence and giving false information, and have been sentenced to 5 years in jail and a fine of Rs 50,000 each.

• Surender Verma - Policeman
• Anand Dutta - Policeman
• Tilak Raj - Policeman

The seventh accused was acquitted of all charges due to CCTV footage that placed him elsewhere at the time of the crime. The charge sheet alleged that he was called by the juvenile main accused to rape the victim.

• Vishal Jangotra - Son of chief conspirator Sanji Ram; Acquitted of all charges

Loud Protests Now a Whimper

This is Madhu from April 2018 when the Hindu Ekta Manch was seen in large numbers, protesting at Koota Mod (junction) on NH-44. They demanded a CBI inquiry and were seen protesting in the favour of the arrested accused.(Photo: Aishwarya S Iyer/The Quint)

Standing tall since the arrest of her father, main accused Sanji Ram, Madhubala has held herself together. She has traveled about two hours from Rasanna to Pathankot for each and every trial hearing, she says.

She was also at the forefront of protests at Koota Mod on NH-44. Under the banner of the Hindu Ekta Manch, she had the support of hundreds of other Hindus who believed she and the others had been wronged.

But as time passed, people stopped turning up and got busy with their own business. This seems to have stoked a bitterness in her that has only deepened since the sentencing and verdict. Family members told The Quint that she was inconsolable.

As they avoid the media glare, they've kept themselves surrounded by 'people who will understand them.'

"We will not talk to the media, you go away from here please," a man physically takes Deepak Khajuria’s relatives away from this reporter.

In large numbers, Hindus of Rasanna and Kathua came out to support the accused. But soon, this support fizzled out. The people vanished. The name of the manch was changed to Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan and no one came to protest at this junction again. This photo was taken in April 2018.(Photo: Aishwarya S Iyer/The Quint)

When asked if the Hindu Ekta Manch will stand with her again, Madhu, who looks emotionally spent, tells The Quint,

“Who are these Hindu Ekta Manch people? Where were they when we needed them the most? They will not do anything at all. We are alone in this fight.”

‘Don’t Agree With Verdict But Won’t Come Out on Streets’

Her deduction acquires more weight as we see who was present in solidarity at the court and who was not.

“Disgusted and disappointed by the verdict,” said Hindu Ekta Manch president Vijay Sharma, though he was not to be found anywhere.

"I could not come, I could not come," he says on call when repeatedly asked why he was absent when the verdict was being given.

Right outside the room where judge Tejwinder Singh was announcing the verdict in the Kathua rape-murder case.(Photo: Aishwarya S Iyer/The Quint)

Back in the courtroom, a corridor opens up to a hall where this reporter finds vice president of the Hindu Ekta Manch, Kant Kumar. He had been a prominent face on Koota Mod since January 2018. Right now, he is seated in blue pants and a blue and white shirt. Kant was also allowed entry into the Pathankot trial court when direct relatives of the Hindu accused as well as mediapersons were repeatedly denied entry.

"You have found us here as well. You are not going to leave us alone, are you?" Kumar asks The Quint with a smile that doesn’t look at all welcoming.

When asked about the verdict, Kumar looks blankly ahead at a wall like he is still processing that six of the seven accused have been held guilty. "I will be honest, we did not expect this. We didn’t think it’d be this bad. We had a feeling that truth would prevail," he says.

A few metal chairs away on the right is 77-year-old Bishan Das Sharma, who had told The Quint in February 2019 that a 'Hindu cannot commit such a crime.' He says while they do not believe the verdict they have no choice but to make peace with it.

Bishan Das Sharma.(Photo: Aishwarya S Iyer/The Quint)

A day after the verdict The Quint met Bishan at his residence in Rasanna. He said after coming back home he has not switched on the television. "Ye judge jhoot bol rahaan hai, bika hua hai. Aapne dekha kaise ragad diya inlogo ne humein. (This judge is lying, he has been bought by money. Did you see how they [Gujjar Bakarwals] beat us hollow)," he said.

"Do you know the history of Muslims? "Musalmano ke comm mein rehmat nahi hoti hai, unki tarakki tab bhi hoti hai jab vo logo ko maar daalte hai. Barso se aisa hi chala aa rahaan hain. (In the Muslim community there is no concept of mercy, the progress in life is only when they kill people. This has been the case with them for generations.)”

Confirming Madhu’s feelings of isolation, Vijay Sharma, speaking for the Hindu Ekta Manch, tells us, “We will not come out to protest. we tried to all those months ago and it was futile. It will be futile even now.”

An Unsatisfactory Verdict, Even for the Bakarwals

Away from the commotion at Pathankot, the family of the Gujjar Bakarwals are scattered across Kashmir. While the eight-year-old's biological mother and father are in Anantnag in different places, the adoptive father is ahead of Kishtwar, and her elder brother is close to Srinagar.

The mother of the Kathua rape-murder victim is distraught. She has been repeatedly saying she wanted the culprits to be hung to death.(Photo: Aishwarya S Iyer/The Quint)

Reacting to the verdict, the elder brother, 18-year-old Shaad* tells The Quint, “I was happy when the verdict came out, but at least one had to have been hung to death.”

Her mother tears up a little, saying,

“She was killed in the most brutal way possible, how is this punishment enough for that brutal attack? How?”

Her father Amjad* sounded confused, "How is this enough punishment? Do they not know how she was abducted and murdered?" he said.

The girl's adoptive parents have a house close to Rasanna where she went missing from. Right now, that home is empty with a few security guards stationed outside to protect the structure.

This is the 8-year-old Gujjar Bakarwal girl’s home very close to Rasanna. She left this home on 10 January 2018 to bring the horses back, but never returned. While the family moves up to Kargil with their cattle, security guards continue to be stationed outside.(Photo: Aishwarya S Iyer/The Quint)

"Of course I feel scared about going back and living there post the verdict. But, I do not care for that anymore. I wanted justice for my child. If I have to forgo that house, I will. But this punishment is not enough," Yassir* tells The Quint.

While the Hindus remain bitter about the verdict, they realise they have to accept it. Without the Hindu Ekta Manch, the family of the accused find themselves deserted, without any real support.

The Bakarwals are still coming to terms with the punishment meted out, and with whether it can make up for their loss. The loss of their 8-year-old child who was abducted, sedated, bludgeoned to death and found dead in the forests of Rasanna, which they once considered their home.