Kathua (J&K): On Tuesday, J&K police has registered an FIR against 40-year-old advocate. The process of submission of charge sheet in Kathua rape-murder case was delayed for a day due to a protest by lawyers. 

On Monday, FIR NO. 131/2018 lodged at Kathua police station didn’t name any advocate. It only said 30-40 lawyers stopped Crime Branch officials from going to the court and resisted the move to present the charge sheet in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Amarjit Singh Langeh.

The lawyers have called for a Jammu bandh today. "We have called for a strike and have got support from many organizations. The crime branch team has officers from Kashmir who don't have a good track record. Therefore, we want a CBI inquiry," said BS Salathia, president, Jammu Bar Association to NDTV.

After protesting in court, Crime Branch officials presented the charge sheet to the CJM at his residence on Monday night. The charge sheet includes seven accused people, including a police sub-inspector, a head constable, two special police officers, a retired revenue official and his son.

On Tuesday, Crime Branch showed a charge sheet against one more accused, a juvenile, in the CJM court. The CJM asked Crime Branch to present seven of the accused on April 16, and the juvenile on April 27. Functioning in courts at Kathua remained disrupted Tuesday as lawyers stayed away to press the demand for a CBI inquiry into the case.

The 8-year-old girl was kidnapped on January 10 after which she was supposedly sedated and raped. Her mangled body was found on January 17. Forensic tests have verified that she was brutalized for a week, before killing. The CBI is being observed by the J&K High Court and the inquiry agency has been submitting status reports to the court.