Kathua verdict flawed: BJP

The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP Monday said the verdict in the Kathua rape-and-murder case was "flawed" as one of the accused was acquitted while others were convicted for the crime.

"I have not gone through the entire verdict yet but from what I have come to know, it is a flawed verdict," BJP spokesperson Ashwini Kumar Chrungoo told reporters here.

"How can one person be acquitted and others convicted for the same crime?" he asked.

He said the party though accepts the court verdict, it was not satisfied.

A court in Punjab's Pathankot on Monday sentenced three men, including a temple caretaker, to life imprisonment till last breath for the gang rape and murder of the eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir shortly after convicting them along with three others for the ghastly crime that shook the nation 17 months ago.

Sanji Ram, the mastermind and caretaker of the 'devasthanam' (temple) where the crime took place in January last year, Deepak Khajuria, a Special Police Officer, and Parvesh Kumar, a civilian--the three main accused--were spared death penalty, a punishment sought by the prosecution during the year-long in-camera trial in the court of judge Tejwinder Singh here.

The other three accused--Sub Inspector Anand Dutta, Head Constable Tilak Raj and special police officer Surender Verma -- were convicted for destruction of evidence to cover up the crime and handed down five years in jail and Rs 50,000 fine each, Singh said.

The court acquitted the seventh accused Vishal Jangotra, son of Sanji Ram, giving him the 'benefit of doubt', according to Mubeen Farooqi, who represented the victim's family in the court.

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 on May 7, 2018 that the case be shifted out of J and K.

The apex court order came after lawyers in Kathua prevented Crime Branch officials from filing a charge sheet in the sensational case.

Reacting to the verdict, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker Mohammad Khurshid Alam said death penalty should have been given to the culprits as was done in case of the December 16 gangrape case in Delhi.

"Why a different yard stick has been adopted here? The rape and murder of the eight-year-old was most heinous, inhuman and devilish act that shamed the entire humanity. Giving the culprits mere life imprisonment would not be enough in any way. Death penalty is must for sending out a strong message to those who are waiting in wings to commit such heinous crimes," he said.

Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement leader Shehla Rashid, however, welcomed the verdict.

"This verdict is a vindication for the family which has been subjected to extreme hate propaganda. I would like to congratulate the Jammu and Kashmir Police for leading an impartial investigation. It has restored people's faith in the system," Rashid said in a statement.

The former JNU student leader said it is, however, unfortunate that one of the main accused, Vishal, has been let off.

"There should have been tougher sentences for all the convicts, so that a message could be sent to people who commit such heinous crimes, within and outside the state. We call for exemplary punishment in all such cases," she added.

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, it said.

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.