Kathua rape and murder case verdict like tomorrow

Jammu: The trial in brutal gangrape and the murder case of an eight-year-old girl from Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir is almost complete after a year which includes as many as 275 hearings and examination of over 130 witnesses. The district and sessions court in Punjab’s Pathankot is likely to deliver its verdict in the rape and murder case of Bakarwal minor girl on Monday, June 10.

The hearing, which was ordered to be a ‘day-to-day in camera trial’ by the Supreme Court, started in June last year. The top court’s intervention came after officials of the crime branch were prevented from filing a chargesheet in the case.  District and sessions judge Tejwinder Singh announced in the court in Pathankot after the conclusion of the in-camera trial that he is likely to deliver the verdict on June 10, special public prosecutor J K Chopra.

According to officials aware of the development, defence lawyers in the case have completed their final arguments followed by a brief concluding statement from the prosecution team led by Chopra,  The 15-page charge sheet states that the eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped on January 10 last year, 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.

The Crime Branch arrested village head Sanji Ram, his son Vishal, juvenile nephew and his friend Anand Dutta, and two special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma. Head constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Sanji Ram and destroyed crucial evidence, were also arrested. Charges of rape and murder were framed by the district and sessions judge against seven out of the eight accused. The trial against the juvenile is yet to begin as his petition on determining his age is to be heard by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

Reports also suggest that the court framed charges under the Ranbir Penal Code(RPC), including Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 376-D (gang-rape), according to the prosecution.  The accused, if convicted, face minimum life imprisonment and maximum death penalty.

All the accused, barring the juvenile, were shifted to Gurdaspur jail following an intervention by the Supreme Court which also restricted appearance of the defence lawyers and limited it to one or maximum of two per accused.  The charge sheet said the girl had gone missing while grazing horses. Investigators said the accused juvenile had abducted the girl under the pretext of helping her find her horses.