After a year of trail at a fast-track court, the seven accused in the Kathua rape and murder of eight-year-old Bakarwal girl have been convicted on Monday by a court in Pathankot, Punjab.
The in-camera trail on a day-to-day basis case was shifted out of Jammu after instructions by the Supreme Court to maintain fairness in the trail.
The seven accused were charged by the crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir police for kidnapping, rape and murder and destruction of the evidence.
The trial was being monitored by the J&K High Court.
The details of the crime as mentioned in the charge sheet by the Special Investigation Team of Crime Branch left millions of people horrified.
The SIT found the girl was kidnapped, kept in the temple at Rasana managed by Sanji Ram, a retired revenue official and custodian of the temple. She was drugged, raped, and then bludgeoned to death.
The SIT found Ram to be the masterminded of the crime, that was planned to urge the Bakarwal community to flee from Rasana.
Initially, lawyer Deepika Rajawat and Bakarwal right activist Chowdhry Talib Hussain fought the case on behalf of the family of the minor girl. But after the case was transferred, Rajwat was removed from the case by the foster father Muhammad Yousuf for not attending the court.
Hussain had to distance himself from the case after he was arrested by police, after a woman relative, accused him of trying to rape her. A Jawaharlal Nehru University student also accused him of sexual assault during the Metoo campaign.
The quantum of punishment will be announced later in the day by the court. One of the accused, Shubham Sangra, son of Sanji Ram, however, has been acquitted as the court was not satisfied with his involvement in the crime.
The minor girl's mother told THE WEEK that she was happy that the perpetrator of the crime against her daughter has been convicted.
''They should be given the strictest punishment, she said.'' That would not bring back my daughter but that would bring some relief to us.''
She said her hearts aches when she recalls what they did to her little girl.
IGP Crime, Jammu Afadul Mujtaba told THE WEEK they will appeal against the acquittal of Sangra.
''We are happy that the accused have been convicted,'' he said.'' We will read the judgement and then decide the next step.''
