The gang-rape, torture and killing of the girl shocked and disturbed the entire country.
A court on Monday sentenced three men to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district last year, a lawyer for the defence said, in a case that sparked outrage across the country. Three other men also convicted in the case were given a five-year prison sentence, lawyer Vinod Mahajan told reporters outside the courtroom in Pathankot. The girl, from a nomadic Muslim community, was drugged, held captive and sexually assaulted for a week before being strangled and battered to death with a stone in January 2018.
Here are the Highlights on Kathua case:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweets after the sentences awarded in the Kathua case:
Rekha Sharma, National Commission for Women Chairperson, quoted by news agency ANI: "Was expecting capital punishment for Kathua rape and murder criminals. Jammu and Kashmir government must go for appeal in higher court".
The Supreme Court had shifted the Kathua trial to Punjab after the girl's family and their lawyer complained of death threats. On Monday hundreds of police were on duty in Pathankot for the trial. Wary of new protests, security was also heavy in Kathua and surrounding Muslim areas, although no incidents were reported.
Tilak Raj, Anand Dutt and Surinder Kumar - convicted for destruction of evidence - have been given 5 years of imprisonment each.
Besides Sanji Ram, the others convicted in the case are, his friend Parvesh Kumar, two special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma, Head Constable Tilak Raj and Sub-Inspector Anand Dutta. The cops were accused of destroying evidence.
The child's mutilated body was found in a forest area on January 17. Three days later, one of the accused -
reportedly a juvenile - was arrested by police. He is Sanji Ram's nephew. The trial in his case is yet to begin because a petition on determining his age is yet to be heard by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
The girl, who belonged to a Muslim nomadic tribe, was kidnapped on January 10 last year and held captive at a village temple in Kathua. She was drugged, starved and repeatedly raped for days. Finally, she was strangled and her head was bashed in with a rock. One of the accused allegedly begged to rape her one last time before she was killed.
The main accused in the Kathua rape case Sanji Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar have been sentenced to life imprisonment. They have also been sentenced to 25 years for charges of gangrape.
Two men convicted in the Kathua rape and murder case have been awarded a five-year jail term.
Three persons convicted of an eight-year-old girl's rape and murder have been sentenced to life in jail. Six men were found guilty of the girl's gang-rape, torture and killing in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua in January last year, which shocked and disturbed the entire country and led to street protests calling for justice for the child.
Guilty deserve severe punishment: Omar Abdullah
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tweeted, "Amen to that. The guilty deserve the most severe punishment possible under law. And to those politicians who defended the accused, vilified the victim & threatened the legal system no words of condemnation are enough."
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti welcomed the judgementMehbooba Mufti tweeted, "Welcome the judgement. High time we stop playing politics over a heinous crime where an 8 year old child was drugged, raped repeatedly & then bludgeoned to death. Hope loopholes in our judicial system are not exploited & culprits get exemplary punishment."