Kathua rape and murder case: Five-member Bar Council of India team arrives in Jammu, meets lawyers who held protests

Jammu: A five-member team of the Bar Council of India arrived in Jammu on Thursday and met lawyers in Kathua, who had held protests in connection with the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl. The team, headed by former chief justice Tarun Agarwal, also visited Rasana and met the agitating people of the area, who are demanding a CBI probe into the incident. [caption id=“attachment_4431601” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Protests over Kathua rape case. PTI[/caption] The Supreme Court had directed a team of the BCI to visit Jammu and submit its report over the conduct of lawyers from high court bar association and other local associations by 24 April. A strike call had been given by the Kathua and the Jammu and Kashmir bar associations in connection with the case. The Bar Association of Jammu had on 13 April said that it was extending its strike till 17 April against the “growing illegal presence of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals,” while alleging that its agitation for a CBI probe into the Kathua rape-cum-murder case was wrongly being portrayed as “communal”. The panel on Thursday met the lawyers in Kathua, who were alleged to have prevented the Crime Branch team from submitting the charge sheet in the case on 9 April, sources said. The lawyers said that they had not prevented the Crime Branch team from submitting it but they only held protests, they said. The team will visit bar association of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and the lawyers would put forth their views on the strike.