Kathua rape verdict: 3 sentenced for life, 5-yr term for two accused announced by special court in Pathankot

Kathua gang rape verdict: Three of the seven accused have been sentenced for life and two have been punished with 5-year imprisonment by the Pathankot special court Judge Tejwinder Singh on Monday, June 10.

Earlier today, the special court had convicted the main accused Sanji Ram, Anand Dutta, Parvesh Kumar, Deepak Khajuria, Surender Verma and Tilak Raj.  Sanji Ram's son Vishal has been acquitted by the court after he produced an alibi for his claim that he was giving an examination at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh during the incident. The quantum of sentence against the convicted people will be announced at  2 pm on Monday.

More than a year after an 8-year-old Muslim nomadic girl from Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir was allegedly kidnapped and brutally raped and murdered by the miscreants, justice finally prevailed for the victims family.

The verdict has been announced by the special court judge on Monday after the day-to-day in-camera trial ended on June 3. Both the prosecution and defence counsels had examined 114 witnesses in a year, based on which Judge Tejwinder Singh announced the verdict.

The state crime branch had arrested eight people in connection with the rape case, including a former revenue official Sanji Ram, his son Vishal Jangotra and a juvenile nephew is the main accused including four policemen, sub-inspector Anand Dutta, Head Constable Tilak Raj and two special police officers identified as Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma. Tilak Raj and Anand Dutta have been accused of destroying crucial evidence in the case.

The six accused in the Kathua rape case have been convicted under at least three sections including Ranbir Penal Codes' Sections 201 (pertaining to the disappearance of evidence) and 120-B (pertaining to criminal conspiracy).