Kathua rape case: The judgement in the Kathua murder and gangrape of an eight-year-old Kthua girl of Jammu and Kashmir is likely to be pronounced on June 10. The verdict will be delivered almost after a year case was shifted from the state to Punjab. The court will hear the final arguments on June 10 and announce its ruling. Reports quoting special public prosecutor Jagdishwar Kumar Chopra saying that last proceedings are likely to conclude on June 06 and the verdict is likely to be pronounced on June 10.
On the directions of Supreme Court, the case was shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir after lawyers in Kathua had stopped crime branch officials from filing the chargesheet. The case was taken over by Jammu and Kashmir Police’s branch crime branch which made several arrests.
There are a total of eight accused in the case namely Sanji Ram, Deepak Khajuria, Surinder Kumar, Parvesh Kumar, Vishal Jangotra, Tilak Raj, Anand Dutta and a juvenile. The gangrape dates back to January 2018 when an eight-year-old girl from the nomadic community was kidnapped, drugged and gang-raped, followed by her murder in Kathua district of Jammu region. Hundreds of protests rallies were held in Kashmir demanding severe punishment to the accused.
The case took a new turn when two BJP ministers participated in the rally called by Hindu Ekta Manch in support of the accused. It was followed by the sacking of Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, ministers in the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir.
In April 2018, the Jammu and Kashmir Police filed a charge sheet against the accused. The 15-page chargesheet stated that the gold was kidnapped on January 10 and her body recovered on January 17 on the basis of information provided by a person namely Jagdish Raj who had seen the victim in a nearby forest. According to the chargesheet, the eight-year-old girl was sedated before raping her.
