Kathua victim lawyer arrested for trying to rape woman in J&K's Samba

Srinagar: Talib Hussain, a Jammu-based social activist and lawyer who shot to prominence after he appeared in the case on behalf of the eight-year-old nomad Kathua gangrape and murder victim’s family has been arrested by the police over attempt to rape charges.

The police said that Hussain was taken into custody from Tral area in Kashmir Valley’s southern Pulwama district after the woman who is related to him lodged a complaint that he attempted rape on her in woods of Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district in June this year.

“We have booked him under Section 376 of Ranbir Penal Code (attempt to rape) and Section 4/15A of the Arms Act after registering an FIR (Number 221/ 2018)”, said Station House Officer (SHO) of Samba Police Station, Chanchal Singh. He confirmed that Hussain was arrested from Tral on Wednesday and taken to Samba on Thursday for further investigation in the case.

As per the complaint lodged with Samba police, the woman, a resident of Samba’s Chairawa Mansar village, has alleged that Hussain tried to wreck her chastity in nearby woods where she had gone for grazing cattle one-and-a-half months ago.

She claimed that she met Hussain in Chadwa jungle, where he with a sharp-edged weapon (Tokka) in hand pushed her on the ground, touched her private parts and then tried to rape her but she managed to flee from the spot. She further said that the accused threatened her of dire consequences if she revealed anything about the incident to the police or anyone else.

“He told me that he will kill me if I revealed anything about the incident to anyone,” she has said in her complaint.

She has also said that she remained silent and did not report the incident to the police as Hussain had threatened to kill her. It was only after she narrated the alleged incident to her husband on July 31 that the couple lodged a complaint with the police and sought action against the accused, the police said.

Hussain, a resident of Majalta village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district who shot into prominence after being at the forefront of a campaign to seek justice for the eight-year-old girl of Kathua’s Rasana village who was allegedly abducted and subsequently drugged and gang-raped inside a temple before being killed in January this year has strongly denied the charge. He has told a lawyer friend that he has been framed for his role in the Kathua incident.

The police said that they are investigating the incident. “We’ve asked for a thorough investigation into the complaint and assigned the same to ASI Kulwant Singh who is the in-charge of Police Post Mansar”, said a senior police official.

In June this year, Hussain’s wife had lodged a complaint with a local police station against him for allegedly torturing her and demanding dowry.

Hussain had denied the charge and said that it was “aimed at maligning him for his raising voice to seek justice for the Kathua gangrape and murder victim”. He was subsequently granted anticipatory bail by the J&K High Court.