Kathua Rape: Father pleads that the trial be shifted to Chandigarh over personal security issues

The father of the 8-year-old girl Asifa who was raped and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua pleaded the Apex Court today to transfer the trial against the 8 accused to Chandigarh, citing a & quot backlash& quot and lack of security for his family members. & quot We are worried that the trial will not happen peacefully, seeing the condition in Jammu... Seeing that lawyers opposed it in Kathua and did not let the chargesheet to be filed,& quot the family's lawyer said. The murder of the girl, who belonged to a nomadic Muslim community, left the country in shock after a police chargesheet exposed the horror of what 6 men subjected the child to. 2 BJP ministers were forced to quit Mufti's cabinet for defending the accused and backing a rally calling for their release. Industries Minister Chandra Prakash Ganga and Forest Minister Lal Singh had addressed a rally in support of the accused by a group called the Hindu Ekta Manch in March. Chandra Prakash Ganga had allegedly termed the arrest as & quot jungle raj& quot . Lal Singh had said: & quot Why such a hullabaloo on the death of this one girl... many such girls have died here.& quot Their exit came after Prime Minister's sharp comments on the crime. & quot I want to assure the country that no culprit will be spared, complete justice will be done. Our daughters will definitely get justice,& quot Modi said at an event. The Jammu Bar Association, whose members also participated in these rallies, say they are not satisfied with the police investigation and want a CBI investigation. The 8-year-old child was kidnapped while she was grazing horses on January 10. For a week, she was sedated, starved and gang-raped by a group that included police officers. Then she was murdered - her head was bashed with a stone to ensure that she was dead. Eight men have been arrested for the crime. The police said the rape-murder was meant as a terror tactic to drive out the Bakarwal community from a Hindu-dominated area.