Trial nearing completion in Kathua minor’s rape-and-murder case

The trial in rape and murder of eight-year-old Kathua girl is nearing completion nearly a year after it began at a court in Punjab’s Pathankot, officials said Sunday.

Defence lawyers are likely to complete their final argumentson Monday, followed by a brief concluding statement from the prosecution teamled by J K Chopra, they said, adding that the verdict is expected thereafter.

   

The day-to-day in-camera trial began in the first week ofJune last year at the district and session court in Pathankot after the SupremeCourt directed that the case be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir after lawyersin Kathua had prevented crime branch officials from filing the charge sheet inthe case.

A political turmoil was witnessed in the Jammu region lastJanuary after the J&K Police’s crime branch took over the case and arrestedeight people, including a juvenile and two police officials who were accused ofdestruction of evidence.

The case became a bone of contention between then rulingalliance partners the PDP and the BJP. The BJP had to sack two of itsministers, Chowdhury Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, for participating ina rally of Hindu EktaManch in support of those arrested by the crime branch inthe case.

Charges of rape and murder were framed by the district andsessions judge against seven out of the eight accused. The trial against thejuvenile is yet to begin as his petition regarding his age is to be heard bythe Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

In its May 7 order, the apex court said “the pivotalfact around which the controversy centres, is abduction, rape and murder of aneight-year-old girl. An FIR was lodged at Hiranagar Police Station,Kathua…The investigating agency, namely, the Crime Branch, which took overthe investigation on 22nd January, 2018 from the local police has already filedthe charge-sheet on 9th April, 2018, in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate,Kathua in the State of Jammu and Kashmir”.

However, the country’s top most court did not say anythingabout handing over the case to the CBI and rather transferred the trial to thedistrict and sessions judge in Pathankot in Punjab, 30 km from Kathua.

“The learned district and sessions judge, Pathankot,shall himself take up the trial and not assign it to any additional sessionsjudge and shall fast-track the trial and take it up on day-to-day basis so thatthere is no delay in trial,” the three-judge bench of the Supreme Courthad said in April last year.

All the accused, barring the juvenile, have been shifted toGurdaspur jail following an intervention by the Supreme Court which alsorestricted appearance of the defence lawyers and limited it to one or maximumof two per accused.

The crime branch had submitted the charge sheet in the crimeon April 9 before the Kathua court.

The case hit the headlines after lawyers allegedly tried toprevent the police from filing the charge sheet.

According to the charge sheet, the eight-year-old girl, whowas kidnapped on January 10 this year, was allegedly raped in captivity in asmall village temple in Kathua district after having been kept sedated for fourdays before she was bludgeoned to death.

The abduction, rape and killing of the child was part of acarefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from thearea, the 15-page charge sheet says.

During trial, the prosecution presented opinions of doctorsto suggest that an overdose of sedatives, forcibly administered to the victimbefore murder, could have led her into “coma” (loss ofconsciousness).

The crime branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police had sent asample of viscera to examine the effect of “mannar” candies (believedto be local cannabies) and “Epitril 0.5 mg” tablets for furtheropinion to a forensic laboratory.

The crime branch had decided to seek further medical opinionafter it was claimed by the accused people and their lawyers in the court aswell as on social media through their supporters that it was virtuallyimpossible that the eight-year-old girl could not have cried for help when suchan alleged brutal attack was happening on her.

The doctors after examining the viscera, which containsinternal organs of the body, specifically those within the chest (as the heartor lungs) or abdomen (as the liver, pancreas or intestines), opined thatmedicine administered to the victim contains Clonazepam salt and has to beadministered under medical supervision keeping in mind the age and weight ofthe patient. “Considering her (victim) of 30 Kgs body weight, thetherapeutic dose of 0.1 to 0.2 mgs per day divided in three dose for patient(is recommended),” it said.”She was forcefully administered fivetablets of Clonazepam 0.5 mg each on January 11, 2018 which is higher than thesafe therapeutic dose. Subsequently more tablets were given…The signs andsymptoms of an overdose may include drowsiness, confusion, impairedcoordination, slow reflexes, slowed or stopped breathing, coma (loss ofconsciousness) and death,” the opinion of the doctor had said.

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