The website of the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit was today hacked for a brief period with the hackers posting a message demanding justice for an eight-year-old girl who was raped and murdered at Kathua in January.

The website was restored after some time.

The hackers, who called themselves “Team Kerala Cyber Warriors”, posted a message accusing the state unit of protecting a “gang of pedophiles” who had aligned with some of the ruling BJP’s office-bearers.

The hackers, who used the colours of the Indian flag in the message, said there should be nothing beyond humanity and “discrimination cannot be tolerated”.

They demanded that rapists be hanged.

BJP’s J&K unit General Secretary Ashok Kaul told PTI that the website was hacked for a brief period and had been “restored now”.

“Yes, we will file a complaint with the police. One should see the message. It seems that someone from north Kerala is responsible for the hacking. After all, the situation in Kerala is not hidden from anyone,” he said.

Kaul said it was yet another attempt to create tension in Jammu, which has been the symbol of nationalism.

The BJP had distanced itself from the Hindu Ekta Manch, which had organised a rally in favour of the eight accused arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir’s Crime Branch in connection with the Kathua rape case.

The party asked two of its ministers Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga to resign from the state cabinet as the two had participated in the rally and dared the Crime Branch to make any further arrests in the case.

The BJP had also removed its state unit secretary who was found having links with the Hindu Ekta Manch.

Expressing his disgust at the gruesome Kathua rape case, legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan has said he feels terrible to even talk about it.

Present at the song launch of his upcoming film ‘102 Not Out’, Big B was asked about his views on rapes in the country as an ambassador for ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’.

“Even discussing this issue feels disgusting, don’t bring up this issue. It is terrible to even talk about it,” said the 75-year-old.

On January 17, an eight-year-old girl was allegedly abducted, drugged, raped, tortured and killed Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district.

Earlier, joining the growing outrage, celebrities like Sonam Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kalki Koechlin, Richa Chadha and many others posted messages on their social media demanding justice for the victim.

Security has been beefed up and search operations are being carried out around the border belt of Punjab particularly in Pathankot district, following reports of terrorist movement in the vicinity.

Acting on the tip off early Thursday morning, the security forces immediately spread out in large numbers and searched various locations in the region.

The ITI building, where the suspects were reportedly spotted, was also thoroughly checked.

Suspicious men stopped a Maruti Alto car belonging to a Maskin Ali late on Sunday night asking for a lift. However, Ali who was with his relatives, suspected that the hitchhikers could be terrorists; hence he left the car and ran away.

Ali later on informed the Punjab Police about the same after which the search operation was launched on Monday morning.

“Some men claiming to be a part of Army asked me for a lift. I let them in but soon realised they weren’t army men. As we tried to escape they attacked us, during our tussle they fled with my car. We informed police about this at night (on Sunday) itself,” Ali said.

Talking to ANI, Inspector General Border Zone SPS Parmar said, “There were such inputs since past three to four days that some suspicious movement has been spotted. We reacted accordingly but till now nothing substantial has been found. We are collaborating with other agencies too and the search is on.”

The security has been beefed up and check posts have been alerted.