TCN News
A special court in Pathankot delivered the verdict in the brutal gang rape and murder of a 8 – year-old girl from a nomadic tribe of Kathua last year in January.
The judge, amidst a tight security around the court pronounced the verdict convicting 6 persons out of the 7 accused. The 6 convicted are Sanji Ram – the main accused and temple priest; Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma both police officers who also destroyed the evidence, sub-inspector Anand Dutta, Parvesh Kumar, and head constable Tilak Raj.
One of the accused Vishal, a juvenile, is the son of the temple priest Sanji Ram, whose petition to determine his age is pending in the High court.
The heinous rape and murder shook the nation and created an uproar of fury when Hindu Ekta Manch took out a rally supporting the accused. There were lawyers and even ministers of the BJP who participated in the rally supporting the rapists and murderers.
The Supreme court had ordered the case to be shifted to Pathankot, in Punjab, about 30 kmts from Kathua.
The trial had begun in June last year and concluded on 3rd June this year. The accused were charged under RBC ( Ranbir Penal Code) for criminal conspiracy, murder and gang-rape, destruction of evidence and causing hurt through poisoning
The judgment has been welcomed by the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah
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 https://t.co/gL2FfRL3rJ
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) June 10, 2019
Mehbooba Mufti, president of PDP tweeted:
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 https://t.co/jBuRUdGa5h
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) June 10, 2019
The argument by the defence lawyers began at 2 pm and the quantum of the sentence will be pronounced at 4 pm.
After 4 pm : The court pronounced 25 years of life imprisonment to Sanji Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar. And 5 years to the constable and the other two who were responsible for destroying evidence.