Six of the seven accused in the rape-and-murder case of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua were convicted by a special court in Pathankot today. One accused, Vishal has been acquitted by the court. The quantum of punishment is likely to be announced at 2 pm today.
Those convicted include former revenue official Sanji Ram, Special Police Officers Deepak Khajuria and Surinder Kumar, two investigating officers – head constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta, Parvesh Kumar. Ram’s son Vishal Jangotra is acquitted, while an accused juvenile faces a separate trial.
Follow LIVE updates on Kathua rape case verdict
The prosecution team, comprising lawyers J K Chopra, S S Basra, Harminder Singh and Bhupinder Singh, issued a brief statement, saying they would examine the judgement and may go in for appeal against the sole acquittal. “We have sought capital punishment against all three accused convicted of murder and gang rape. It was hard work of all of us and a perfect blend of investigation and legal brains. We have achieve 99 per cent result,” the statement said.
Families of the accused present at the court accused media for the verdict. “Media made a case against us. We are a victim of media,” said one of the relatives. They are going to challenge the judgment, said one of the defence lawyers, after coming out of court.
Read | Kathua rape verdict: Mufti, Omar Abullah welcome judgment
According to the 15-page chargesheet, the eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped on January 10, 2018, was allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district after having been kept sedated for four days before she was bludgeoned to death.
Sanji Ram, considered the main accused, is alleged to have hatched the conspiracy along with the other accused, to kidnap the girl as part of a strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area.
The case led to outrage across the country in January last year, with some groups in Jammu also coming out in support of the accused.
The in-camera trial in the case was conducted on a day-to-day basis following the Supreme Court directions and was completed on June 3 with both the prosecution and defence counsels examining 114 witnesses in a year. The trial was shifted to Pathankot from Kathua on directions of Supreme Court after the victim’s father had approached the apex court saying that he apprehended threat to his family and counsel’s life in Jammu.
