Kathua case verdict: Six convicted for rape and murder, 1 acquitted

New Delhi: The verdict of the Kathua rape and murder case was announced on Monday after over a year of the gruesome incident. Six of the seven accused in the rape-and-murder case of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua were convicted by a special court in Pathankot today. The quantum of punishment will be announced at 2 pm today.

State Crime Branch had arrested eight people including former revenue official Sanji Ram, Special Police Officers Deepak Khajuria and Surinder Kumar, Parvesh Kumar, Ram’s son Vishal Jangotra and a juvenile who faces a separate trial. Two investigating officers – head constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta, are accused of destroying crucial evidence in the case

The initial hearings of the case were held at a court in Punjab’s Pathankot. The Supreme Court directed that the case be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir after the lawyers in Kathua prevented the crime branch from filing the chargesheet.

According to the 15-page charge sheet, the eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped on January 10, 2018, 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.