The Hindu Ekta Manch (HEM) has said that the issue of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old Kathua girl is being  raised on purpose to accelerate a ‘Muslim demographic invasion’ in Rasana and other areas of Kathua.

The HEM, a right wing Hindu organization has appealed to  people to “raise funds” so they can meet the “legal expenses” of the accused involved in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl.

“The whole issue has been used to harass the people of Rasana and adjoining villages to such an extent that they are thinking of  abandoning their homes and hearths and  shift to some other place,” stated seven HEM leaders in a message widely circulated on social media.

“In case this happens there will be an immense boost to the Muslim demographic invasion of this area in particular and Jammu region in general.”

The HEM is an organisation which sparked outrage earlier as well after it rallied in support of the accused.

The message of seven HEM persons also claims that the crime branch investigation into the rape and murder case of the eight year old girl should not be trusted, and that a Crime Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was needed instead.

“We do not trust the Crime Branch whose investigation led to the arrest of a few HEM people; hence it has decided to move the Supreme Court to appeal for a CBI inquiry to find the real culprits in the murder rape and alleged rape of the 8 year old girl”.

To that effect, the organization has “constituted a team of lawyers” to file a petition in the apex court “at the earliest.”

“As all of us have realized that a CBI enquiry has become a critical requirement in the case where the real culprits have to be nailed and the innocents who have been implicated falsely are freed,” Advocate Vijay Sharma, one of the HEM members who issued the statement, told The Kashmir Press.

He added that a CBI enquiry is also critically needed to unearth the bigger conspiracy behind the murder.

“You are aware that we have to move the Supreme Court of India to order a CBI enquiry,” Sharma said.

The eight year old girl was kidnapped when she was shepherding her horses at Rasna village of Kathua on January 10 of this year. On January 17, her disfigured body was found. During the police investigations, it was established that she was raped and then murdered by the culprits. It was also established that some policemen helped in destroying the evidence of the crime. They were later arrested, including a sub inspector rank police officer.

The forensic reports earlier had established that hair strands recovered at the scene of the crime confirmed that Asifa was kept captive inside the temple after being raped and subsequently strangulated. The hair strands were found in the Devistan Temple at Hiranagar after one of the accused confirmed that she was held there. While still alive, she was made unconscious by being administered a strong sedative.