The trial in the infamous Kathua gang rape and murder of aminor girl ended on Monday after detailed final arguments were advanced by theconcerned advocates in the case.
A court official said that detailed arguments were advancedby Advocate Ankur Sharma, Advocate Vikram and Chandan on behalf of accusedParvesh Kumar regarding the rape and murder of the eight-year-old nomadic girl.
He said that today was the last day of trial and thejudgment would be pronounced on June 10 at 10:00 am.
In first week of January 2018, the eight-year-old girl waskidnapped then drugged and finally raped and murdered in Rasana area of Kathuadistrict in Jammu and Kashmir.
The victim was kept captive inside a temple for over 15 daysand finally murdered after her captivators raped her.
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 chargesheet inthe case.
A political turmoil was witnessed in the Jammu region lastJanuary after the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s crime branch took over the caseand arrested eight people, including a juvenile and two police officials whowere accused of destruction of evidence.
The case became a bone of contention between then rulingalliance partners PDP and BJP. The BJP had to sack two of its ministers,Chowdhury Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, for participating in a rally ofHindu Ekta Manch in support of those arrested by the crime branch in the case.
The crime branch arrested village head Sanji Ram, his sonVishal, juvenile nephew and his friend Anand Dutta, and two special policeofficers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma. Head constable Tilak Raj andsub-inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Sanji Ram anddestroyed crucial evidence, were also arrested by the crime branch.
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. (With PTI inputs)