Chandigarh/ Srinagar: Delivering justice in the grisly Kathua gangrape and murder which shook the conscience of the nation, a court in Pathankot on Monday sentenced three convicts, including the mastermind, to life imprisonment for conspiracy and murder, and sent three more to five years in jail for destruction of evidence, observing that the perpetrators of the crime acted as if there is a “law of jungle” prevalent in society.
District and sessions judge Tejwinder Singh summed up the enormity of the crime with a touching couplet by Mirza Ghalib which says that hunters had placed the net near a nest and the young one was caught before it could take its first flight.
After hearing arguments from both sides for 367 days, judge Singh started his judgment with the couplet from Ghalib’s ghazal — “Pinha tha daam-e-sakht qareeb ashiyaan ke, udhne hi nahi paye the ki girftar hum hue.”
The 400-page judgment said, “Perpetrators of the crime have acted in such a manner as if a law of the jungle prevailed. Heaven and hell are not geographical locations. Our thoughts, actions and character create a situation of heaven or hell for us. Needless to say the commission of this devilish and monstrous crime has sent shock waves across the society which means the guilty need to be brought under the sword of justice.”
Sanji Ram, the caretaker of the temple where the crime took place, SPO Deepak Khajuria and his accomplice Parvesh Kumar were convicted under sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy, murder, kidnapping, gangrape, destruction of evidence, drugging the victim and common intention of the J&K’s Ranbir Penal Code. They were sentenced to life imprisonment and fined `1 lakh each for murder along with 25 years in jail for gang rape. Sub-inspector Anand Dutta, head constable Tilak Raj and SPO Surender Verma, convicted for destruction of evidence, were handed five years’ imprisonment.
The court acquitted a seventh suspect, who is the son of Sanji Ram. The eighth accused, a juvenile, is being tried in Kathua.
Relatives of Sanji Ram and special police officer Khajuria collapsed in the court complex as they heard the verdict. According to eyewitness accounts from inside the courtroom, where media was barred, Sanji Ram and Khajuria were visibly shaken after the judgement.
The victim had gone missing while grazing horses in Rasana village of Hiranagar tehsil of Kathua on January 10, 2018. A week later, her body was found in woods near her village. The DNA and police investigations revealed that she was held inside a local temple where she was drugged, raped and killed.
The police arrested eight persons, including the custodian of the temple, his son and a special police officer (SPO) for their alleged involvement in the crime.
A police sub-inspector, a head-constable and another special police officer (SPO) were arrested on charges of destroying evidence.
