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Muslims flee Kashmir village after girl’s rape, murder
[DAWN] There are no Moslems left in the village of Rasana, which has become a symbol of India’s rape crisis after the brutal murder of an eight-year-old Moslem girl blamed on Hindu men.Police say the girl was raped and killed as part of an attempt by some of the village’s majority Hindus to evict Bakarwal Moslem nomads, who graze their cattle in the hills in the summer months. It seems to have worked: the girl’s family have headed for India-held held Kashmire hills under police protection. Other Moslem families in the community of around 100 people all left after the rape in January. At the empty home of the dead girl’s family, five armed police kept guard half asleep in chairs outside. Police say the child was drugged, held captive in a Hindu temple for five days, and repeatedly raped before being beaten to death. Her anonymous grave in orange earth partially covered by weeds is in a nearby village in Kathua district, about 60 kilometres from the region’s main city Jammu. Media reports said Hindus in Rasana refused to allow the girl to be buried there. In Rasana, the village’s few remaining inhabitants are reluctant to speak to outsiders. "Since all this happened, the village has emptied," according to 39-year-old Yash Paul Sharma, a rare resident willing to talk. Posted by: Fred 2018-04-20 |
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