Kathua rape and murder case: Three convicts sentenced to life imprisonment by Pathankot Court

In a major development in the verdict of the Kathua rape and murder case three convicts Sanji Ram, Parvesh Kumar & Deepak Khajuria have been sentenced to life imprisonment. Furthermore, the other three convicts - SI Anand Dutta, head constable Tilak Raj and special police officer Surender Verma sentenced to five years for destruction of evidence

Earlier in the day, the verdict of the in-camera trial in the case of rape and murder of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir started in the Pathankot special court where six of the seven accused  were pronounced guilty.

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The in-camera trial in the case that shook the nation ended on June 3, when district and sessions judge Tejwinder Singh had announced that the verdict was likely to be delivered on June 10. According to the 15-page charge sheet, 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 day-to-day trial commenced in the first week of June last year at the district and sessions court in Pathankot in the neighbouring state of 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.

Kathua Verdict: Six Of Seven Accused Persons Convicted By Pathankot Court In Horrific Kathua Rape And Murder Case. LIVE Updates

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. 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 abduction, rape and killing of the child was part of a carefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area, said the chargesheet,