NEW DELHI – Two BJP ministers, who had attended a rally in support of theKathua rape accused, on Friday resigned from the Mehbooba Mufti government

A group called the Hindu Ekta Manch recently held a rally with theTricolour, opposing the settlement of Gujjar and Bakarwal tribes in Kathua.It also demanded the release of a police officer accused of involvement inthe rape and murder of the girl.

Earlier, the state’s minister for forest Chaudhary Lal Singh and ministerfor commerce and industries Chander Prakash Ganga, both from the BJP,attended the event.

An eight-year-old had disappeared from near her home in a village nearKathua in the Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the samearea a week later.

The charge sheet filed by the crime branch said that the girl was allegedlyabducted, drugged and held in a temple while she was raped repeatedlybecause the main accused wanted to scare the Bakarwals and make them moveout of the village.