Kathua rape case lawyer gets a pat on the back from Harry Potter star Emma Watson

NEW DELHI: "Harry Potter" star Emma Watson has tweeted her support to Deepika Singh Rajawat, the lawyer representing the family of the girl who was raped and murdered in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir."All power to Deepika Singh Rajawat," tweeted Watson while reacting to a photo article on the lawyer.

Rajawat had claimed that she received death threats, including lawyers from the Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association, for representing the case. The rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl from the Bakarwal tribe of Jammu and Kashmir had sparked widespread outrage in the country. 

The Supreme Court had directed the Jammu and Kashmir government to provide security to the family of the eight-year-old Kathua gangrape and murder victim, their lawyer and a family friend assisting them in prosecuting the case. It was reported that Rajawat, who is the lawyer for the victim's family in trial court, has filed a petition on her own name seeking protection as she was receiving threats for representing the affected family. However, later, it was clarified that the father of the victim filed the petition and another petition was filed by the Delhi-based advocate seeking a CBI probe into the case. 

The top court had on April 13 taken strong note of some lawyers obstructing the judicial process in the gangrape and murder case and initiated a case on its own record, saying such impediment "affects the dispensation of justice and would amount to obstruction of access to justice". In a stern warning, the SC had said it would transfer the Kathua gangrape and murder case from the local court in Jammu and Kashmir in the "slightest possibility" of lack of fair trial, saying the "real concern" was to hold proper prosecution.

The minor girl had disappeared from near her home in the forests in Kathua, on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later. The Crime Branch of police which probed the case filed a main charge sheet against seven persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district.