Asifa Rape, Murder:Details of horror shock world; voices for justice get stronger

Srinagar: The voice for justice to Asifa, who was gang-raped and murdered in her hometown Kathua, has started to come from across India and abroad.
The widespread response to the case has come after the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Crime Branch charge-sheet, filed in a local court, revealed disturbing details of how the 8-year-old was abducted, drugged, gang-raped for seven days, and killed inside a temple.
The brutal incident, scripted ‘to incite fear among the Muslims in Kathua’, has become a prime issue within and outside India.
International newspapers such as Washington Post and New York Times criticised the Jammu lawyers’ protest to prevent filing of the charge-sheet in the court.
People including politicians, celebs, and sportsmen vented their anger on social-media.
On micro-blogging website Twitter, a campaign with hashtag JusticeforAsifa has been started by Tweerati, demanding stern punishment to the accused.
Politicians including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Jignesh Mehvani, and Sushma Swaraj took to the twitter and demanded justice for Asifa.
“@narendramodi ji, you tweeted in minutes, on the suicide of farmer Gajendra in rally. But it has been months, you haven’t spoken a word on ‘8 years old Asifa’s rape & murder, while BJP is wreaking mayhem in Jammu region. The whole country is shaken, but you,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on his twitter handle.
Dalit politician and Gujarat-based independent MLA posted,“ Our great PM @narendramodi will sit on fast today. Hope he will do a fast for little Asifa whose brutal rape & murder was supported by Hindutva thugs like his own cadre. Hope he will also do upwaas for #Unnao rape survivor seeking justice from his bhai@myogiadityanath ka govt.”
Sportsperson across the country equally posted a flurry of tweets, condemning the incident and expressing shock over the protest by lawyers.
Tennis star Sania Mirza wrote: “Is this really the kind of country we want to be known as to the world today ?? If we can’t stand up now for this 8-year-old girl regardless of our gender, caste, colour or religion then we don’t stand for anything in this world… Not even humanity… Makes me sick to the stomach. Justice needs to be done… For the sake of keeping our faith in the judiciary and the system alive… I really hope and pray justice is done… And soon… #UnnaoHorror #UnnaoRapeCase.”
“My heart is broken and I am filled with anger and disgust. Asifa has suffered and gone at the hands of criminals who have also evidently murdered our collective conscience! #Asifa #Kathua #Unnao.”
Cricketer Gautam Gambir, reacted to the protest by lawyers and posted on his twitter handle, “Shame on those, especially the lawyers, who are challenging and obstructing Deepika Singh Rajawat, the counsel of our victimised daughter from Kathua.”
Supporting the justice to Asifa, he posted, “Indian consciousness was raped in Unnao and then in Kathua. It’s now being murdered in corridors of our stinking systems. Come on ‘Mr System’, show us if you have the balls to punish the perpetrators, I challenge you.”
Angry, ashamed and heartbroken is how the Indian film industry personalities described their feelings over Kathua rape and demanded swift action against the perpetrators.
Actress and noted blogger, Swara Bhaskar was first to react over the Kathua minor rape and murder.
On her Facebook and Twitter handle she wrote, “An 8 year old girl was gangraped & murdered in a temple because she belonged to a Muslim tribe that Hindu rightwing goons wanted evicted from their area! #Kathua #India this is on us!!!! If in #Delhi pls join TODAY #JusticeforAsifa”
Noted screenwriter, Javed Akhtar said it was high time that people came forward in support of women rights.
“All those who wish justice for women should stand up and raise their voices against the rapists and their protectors in Unnao and Kathua,” he wrote
Actress Sonam Kapoor shared a news article on Kathua rape and murder and called out fake nationals and fake Hindus in her tweet.
“Ashamed appalled and disgusted by fake nationals and fake Hindus. I cannot believe this is happening in my country,” she wrote.
Actor-filmmaker, Farhan Akhtar pleaded: “Imagine what goes through the mind of an 8 yr old as she is drugged, held captive, gang raped over days and then murdered. If you don’t feel her terror, you are not human. If you don’t demand Asifa get justice, you belong to nothing (sic).”
Actor RajKumar Rao wrote, “This is beyond horrible. How can anyone in their right senses defend these monsters?#JusticeforAsifa#Justice for Humanity. ”