A special court in Pathankot held six out of seven persons guilty in the gangrape-and-murder of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua..
AGENCIES/ WEB DESK/ Pathankot
Six out of the seven accused, including the mastermind Sanjhi Ram, were convicted by a special court here on Monday in the sensational gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, Sanjhi Ram’s son has been spared, it said.
Over 1,000 policemen and security personnel have been deployed in and around the Pathankot court, where the trial was shifted given the highly sensitive nature of the case.
The in-camera trial in the case that shook the nation ended on June 3, when district and sessions judge Tejwinder Singh had announced that the verdict was likely to be delivered on June 10.
Mother of the Kathua girl told India Today TV that she wants the perpetrators hanged. “We want justice. We want them to hang. It has been so long they haven’t been punished even now,” he said.
The eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped on January 10 last year, was allegedly raped in captivity in Rasana village in Kathua district after having been kept sedated for four days before she was strangulated to death.
The day-to-day trial commenced in the first week of June last year at the district and sessions court in Pathankot in neighbouring state of Punjab, after the Supreme Court ordered that the case be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the situation in Rasana village of Kathua district is normal as authorities had made elaborate security arrangements to deal with any law and order situation in the wake of the verdict in the rape and murder case.
Satyamev Jayate
“I was waiting for this day to share with you all that I have started working on my first book on my journey as a lawyer who took up Kathua case as challenge in the face of threats and intimidation. A lot to share.Hopefully it will be there with you all a month or so” says victim family’s counsel Deepika S Rajawat after the verdict.
Another counsel Advocate Mubeen Farooqui said the verdict in Kathua gangrape-murder case was a victory for all the communities — Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians.
A special court in Pathankot held six out of seven persons guilty in the gangrape-and-murder of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua.
“It’s victory of truth (Satyamev Jayate). This victory belongs to all the communities, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians,” he said.
Advocate Farooqui said that charges of rape have been proved on Sanjhi Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh while others have been convicted for rape and murder and destruction of evidence. “We will appeal for capital punishment to the convicts,” he said.
Kathua gangrape-murder: Omar, Mehbooba welcome court verdict
WEB DESK
Former J&k chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti have welcomed the verdict of the Pathankot court in Kathua gangrape-murder case.
While Abdullah called for severe punishment for the convicted, Mufti hoped that loopholes in judicial system would not be exploited.
“Amen to that. The guilty deserve the most severe punishment possible under law. And to those politicians who defended the accused, vilified the victim & threatened the legal system no words of condemnation are enough. #KathuaRapeCase,” Omar said in a tweet.
Earlier, the Pathankot court convicted six out of the seven accused, including the mastermind Sanjhi Ram in gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old Gujjar girl.
“Welcome the judgement. High time we stop playing politics over a heinous crime where an 8 year old child was drugged, raped repeatedly & then bludgeoned to death. Hope loopholes in our judicial system are not exploited & culprits get exemplary punishment,” former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said in a tweet.