The only acquittal in the Kathua rape-and-murder case cameas the trial court set aside the statement of three prosecution witnesses whohad claimed that Vishal Jangotra, the son of main culprit Sanji Ram, was in thearea at the time of the crime.
District and sessions judge Tejwinder Singh relied on thestatement of the landlady of Vishal that he was in Meerut in Uttar Pradeshwhere he was studying in a college.
According to the 432-page judgement delivered on June 10,the prosecution counsel relied on the three eyewitnesses who had claimed tohave seen Vishal in Kathua on January 13 and 14 last year and forensic experts’opinion that writing samples of Vishal did not tally.
“The prosecution claims that as per the said report(handwritting), the questioned signatures do not tally with the standard itemsin general writing habits such as movement, skill and speed. The differencesobserved in writing are fundamental in nature,” according to the verdict.
Vishal had presented his signature in the attendance sheetof his college to show that he was in Meerut, and not in Jammu and Kashmir asclaimed by the prosecution.
The prosecution also submitted evidence of mobile operatorsto prove the fact that Vishal was very much present in Kathua on days when thecrime against the eight-year-old nomadic girl were committed in Kathua.
While analysing the eyewitnesses of the prosecution, thecourt said it is of the opinion that these witnesses “are under somemistake relating to identity”.
Commenting on an eyewitness, who had seen a TV report aboutabsence of Vishal from Kathua and came running to crime branch officials wherehe claimed to have seen Vishal along with Parvesh, an accused sentenced tolife.
The eyewitness, who belongs to nomadic tribe, identifiedVishal and Parvesh in the court but the judge did not rely on his statementsaying that he “never moved any complaint before any authority against thenews channel” or its staff.
“…As such oral evidence of these witnesses cannot begiven preference over the documentary evidence on record having been led bydefence of Vishal Jangotra.”
Vishal was the only one among the seven accused to beacquitted by the court.
Three, including his father Sanji Ram who was the key conspirator,were given life sentences. Others were Parvesh Kumar and Deepak Khajuria. Threepolicemen have been sentenced to five years’ jail for destruction of evidence.
Parvesh Kumar, who has been convicted, had said in hisconfessional statement that Vishal was present with him during the crime. Thecrime branch has been maintaining that Vishal had come to his village onJanuary 13 and left again on January 14.
The court took into account a statement from Suman Sharma,the landlady of Vishal, who had said that he was present all along in Meerutwhere he is studying and also testified that he had attended hisgranddaughter’s birthday celebration on January 16 last year.
Pointing out some elementary mistakes in the investigation,the court observed that Sub-inspector Urfan Wani categorically deposed thatbefore arresting Vishal from Uttar Pradesh’s Meeranpur, they had not enquiredfrom his college or his examination centre whether he had regularly appearedfor his examination that started from January 9, 2018.
Wani in his deposition also stated that he had recorded thestatement of Vishal’s landlady, Suman Sharma, in Urdu “… And he does notknow whether Suman Sharma knew Urdu language or not,” it observed.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Urdu is an official language used bythe police to record statements of the accused as well as witnesses.
The court also raised the issue of the prosecution failingto question Inspector Kewal Kishore who had done most of the investigationregarding Vishal’s alleged role in the crime.
“This court is of the opinion that all this goes toshow there is a big lacuna in the prosecution case against Vishal Jangotra inthis regard as prosecution failed to verify genuinely the plea of alibi raisedby accused Vishal Jangotra at the first instance during the investigation ofthe case,” it said in the detailed order.
The special court said the prosecution has failed todischarge its burden of leading convincing evidence to the effect that theevidence led by Vishal on his ‘plea of alibi’ is wrong or forged andfabricated.
A 15-page charge sheet filed in April last year said theeight-year-old girl was kidnapped on January 10 that year and was raped incaptivity in a small village temple, exclusively manned by Ram, after keepingher sedated for four days. She was later bludgeoned to death, it said.
The day-to-day trial commenced in the first week of Junelast year at the district and sessions court in Pathankot in the neighbouringstate of Punjab, about 100 km from Jammu and 30 km from Kathua, after theSupreme 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 preventedCrime Branch officials from filing a charge sheet in the sensational case.