Kathua rape case: It hurts when you are targeted, Shwetambari Sharma had said on Ankur Sharma's comment.
Highlights
- Shwetambari Sharma is the only woman cop in the probe team of Kathua case
- "She is a girl, how intelligent can she be?": Defence lawyer had said
- "It hurts when you are targeted," she replied to the lawyer's comment
The only woman police officer in the team that investigated the Kathua child rape was disparaged by the lawyer defending the accused, who said: "She is a girl, how intelligent can she be?"
For Deputy Superintendent of Police Shwetambari Sharma, the comment is reflective of the difficulties she faced while investigating the men who kidnapped an eight-year-old girl in January, kept her sedated and without food while raping her over and over for a week, and finally killed her.
Defence lawyer Ankur Sharma, who made the misogynistic comments, is defending five of the accused.
"It hurts when you are targeted and your intelligence is doubted just because you are a woman. What should I comment on such a chauvinist remark, the whole nation is there to comment on it," Shwetambari Sharma told reporters yesterday, reacting to the lawyer's outrageous comment.
Ms Sharma, the only woman in the SIT (Special Investigation Team) in the case, said the team faced lots of difficulties while collecting evidence, especially because a pro-Hindu group and lawyers were campaigning in support of the accused.
All the arrested men are Hindu and the child who was raped and killed belonged to the nomadic Muslim Bakherwal tribe.
"An agitation was going on and going among the provocative persons to collect the evidence and take statements was not easy," she said.
Ms Sharma said initially she felt "disturbed" with the case but now she was fine.
She hoped that the judiciary would provide justice to the little girl who suffered unimaginable horrors in her last days.
"Our judiciary is capable enough to bring justice, don't doubt it," said the police officer.
The trial against the eight accused men has begun.
Two First Information Reports (FIRs) have been filed in the case - one against the eight accused and the other against a group of lawyers that allegedly tried to stop the police from filing a charge-sheet against the accused.
Details of the crime in the charge-sheet left the nation struggling with shock, anger and grief. One of the accused, a police officer, begged to rape the girl one last time before she was strangled and stoned to death.
(With inputs from ANI)