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| Kathua gangrape: 3 get life imprisonment, 3 others 5 years' jail term | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, June 10: The special court in Pathankot on Monday convicted six out of seven people accused in the Kathua rape and murder case one year after the incident occurred.
Temple priest and village head Sanji Ram, the main accused in the case, was convicted with 5 others including two special police officers and a police constable. The others who were convicted include Sanji Ram's juvenile nephew and two special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma. Sanji Ram, the caretaker of the temple where the crime took place, Special Police Officer Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar, a civilian, have been convicted under Ranbir Penal Code sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy, murder, kidnapping, gangrape, destruction of evidence, drugging the victim and common intention. the lawyers said.
They have been sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 1 lakh each for murder along with 25 years in jail for gangrape, they said.
Three accomplices -- Sub Inspector Anand Dutta, Head Constable Tilak Raj and special police officer Surender Verma -- who were convicted for destruction of evidence have been handed over five years imprisonment, they said. All the accused were arrested for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua region. Meanwhile, Sanji Ram's son Vishal was acquitted of all charges in the case as he was able to successfully produce an alibi to prove his innocence.
All the six accused have been convicted under three sections including Ranbir Penal Codes' (RPC) Sections 201 (destroying evidence), 376 (gang rape) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy). The quantum of sentence in the case will be announced at 2 pm.
Incidentally RPC and not the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is applicable in J&K.
Soon after the verdict, advocate Mubeen Farooqui Khan, representing the victim's family, said, "Persons convicted by Pathankot court are Sanji Ram, Anand Dutta, Parvesh Kumar, Deepak Khajuria, Surender Verma and Tilak Raj."
The family of the minor victim breathed a sigh of relief and welcomed the verdict given by the court one year after the case shocked the country.
There was massive country-wide outrage following the incident where the nomadic minor girl was kidnapped on January 10, 2018 and allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district after being kept sedated for four days.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had on May 7, 2018 transferred the case from Kathua to Pathankot in Punjab and the in-camera trial in the case ended on June 3. The day-to-day trial commenced in the first week of June last year at the district and sessions court in Pathankot in Punjab, about 100 km from Jammu and 30 km from Kathua, after the Supreme Court ordered that the case be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir.
The girl's body was found on January 17 and autopsy confirmed gang rape and murder.
The accused face minimum life imprisonment and maximum death penalty. The court also framed charges of destruction of evidence and causing hurt by poisoning under Section 328 of the RPC. The two policemen -- Raj and Datta -- were also charged under Section 161 (public servant taking illegal gratification) of the RPC.
The case had become a bone of contention between the then ruling alliance partners PDP and the BJP after two ministers of the saffron party, Chowdhury Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, participated in a rally organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch in support of the accused arrested by the state crime branch. |
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