Kathua rape case: Accused to be produced before Pathankot court
What's the story
The eight people accused in the case of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community in J&K's Kathua will be produced before a court in Pathankot in Punjab on May 31 in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court. The J&K Police's Crime Branch will produce the charge-sheet before the district and sessions judge in Pathankot.
Files
Police team will present all files to Pathankot court
A police team along with the staff of Kathua court and sessions judge will present all the files to Pathankot court and request permission to translate all the documents from Urdu to English. The public prosecutor will also move a plea to keep accused in judicial custody in Pathankot citing security concerns in transporting them to court, the officials said.
Trial
Pathankot court will hear trial on day-to-day basis
After several petitions in SC and J&K high court, the case is finally set to move to the trial stage with an in-camera hearing. The sessions judge of Pathankot has himself take up the trial and agreed to hear on a day-to-day basis. The Crime Branch had submitted a charge sheet in the crime on April 9 before the Kathua court.
Limelight
Kathua bar association tried to prevent police from filing documents
The case came into the national limelight after lawyers of the Kathua bar association tried to prevent the police from filing the documents. According to the charge-sheet, the eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped on January 10 this year, was allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua after having been kept sedated for four days before she was bludgeoned to death.
Names
Who all were named in the charge-sheet?
The FIR named eight people, including temple custodian and alleged mastermind Sanji Ram, his son Vishal, a juvenile nephew, and special police officers Deepak Khajuria alias "Deepu" and Surender Verma. The others arrested are the juvenile's friend Parvesh Kumar as well as investigating officers head constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs. 4 lakh from Ram and destroyed crucial evidence.