Law prevails
Justice has been finally given by the court of law in the case of minor Kathua girl who was brutally raped and murdered before being confined in the local temple of the village. The entire conspiracy was hatched by Sanji Ram who was a village head in order to drive out the nomad families from their village for being Muslims. The case was handed over to crime branch wing of J&K Police by then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and she with stood all the pressure from her coalition partner BJP and her BJP Ministers who openly brought out rallies in favour of criminal with tri-colour in their hands. Lot of people participated in those protest rallies organized by communal elements headed by right wing forces.
When recently, the court awarded the sentence, the families of the accused were present in the court room. According to eyewitness accounts from inside the courtroom, where the media was barred, Ram and Khajuria reacted with shock when the operative part of the verdict was read out by the judge. Some family members of the two men collapsed in the court complex on hearing the news of them being sent to jail for life.
A 15-page charge sheet filed in April last year said the eight-year-old girl was kidnapped on January 10 that year and was raped in captivity in a small village temple, exclusively manned by Ram, after keeping her sedated for four days. She was later bludgeoned to death. The crime branch of J&K Police had filed the charge sheet against eight persons, including a juvenile. 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 prosecution team, comprising lawyers J K Chopra, S S Basra, Harminder Singh and Bhupinder Singh, said it demanded capital punishment for the main accused and may go in for appeal against the sole acquittal.
National Commission for Women (NCW) Chairperson Rekha Sharma welcomed the conviction but said she was expecting capital punishment for all the six convicts. The state government should appeal in higher court. The apex court order came after lawyers in Kathua prevented Crime Branch officials from filing a charge sheet in the sensational case.
