AMN / PATHANKOT
A special court in Pathankot today sentenced to life imprisonment three of the six persons convicted in the rape-and-murder case of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. They are Sanjhi Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar. Three others, Surender Verma, Head constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta were sentenced to five years imprisonment. The seventh accused, Vishal, was acquitted by the court.
The verdict was pronounced by the District and Session Judge Tejwinder Singh, who also imposed fine of 3.70 lakh rupees on each of the three convicts Sanjhi Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar. The other three convicts have to pay a fine of 50 thousand rupees each.
WHAT IS THE CASE
Sanji Ram, 61, a retired revenue officer, was the caretaker of the temple in which the little girl, kidnapped on January 10 last year, was kept locked up for days, repeatedly gang-raped, drugged, starved and tortured.
Also sentenced to life term is Parvesh Kumar, a friend of Sanji Ram’s nephew, who helped him kidnap the girl and was guilty of raping her multiple times. The trial against the nephew is stuck because of a dispute over his age; he claims he is a minor and a petition on his age is yet to be heard.
Special police officer Deepak Khajuria is the third man to be sent to jail for life. When the child was strangled and was about to be killed with a stone, he begged to be allowed to “rape her one last time”.
Another special police officer, Surender Verma, Head Constable Tilak Raj and Sub-Inspector Anand Dutta will serve five years in jail and pay a fine of Rs. 25,000. The cops were accused of destroying evidence.
Tilak Raj has been found guilty of taking bribe to block the investigation. Anand Dutta was paid lakhs to cover up the crime, the police say. He tutored the juvenile kidnapper and also washed bloodstained clothes, according to the charges against him.
The girl belonged to a nomadic tribe. Her mutilated body was found on January 17. Three days later, one of the accused – reportedly the juvenile – was arrested. Sanji Ram surrendered on March 20 last year.
Amid nationwide outrage over the savage killing of the child, the case was handed over to the Crime Branch. Investigations suggested that the girl was raped and murdered in a bid to terrorise the nomads frequenting the Kathua area and drive them out.
The case drove a wedge between the then BJP-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alliance in the state after two BJP leaders – Chowdhury Lal Singh and Prakash Ganga – participated in a rally organised in support of the accused.
“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,” tweeted PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who was chief minister when the case erupted.
The Supreme Court ordered that the trial be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir after lawyers at the Kathua court prevented the Crime Branch from filing charges on April 9. All the accused, barring the juvenile, were shifted to a Punjab jail. The court restricted defence lawyers to one or two each, and ordered day-to-day in-camera trial.
Late last year, the family of the Kathua victim dropped their lawyer – Deepika Rajawat – accusing her of not making herself available for court hearings. Ms Rajawat said she had been receiving death threats ever since she took up the 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.