PTI, PATHANKOT: A court here, hearing the brutal gang rape-and-murder case of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, today framed charges against seven of the eight accused, paving way for beginning of trial against them, officials said here.
The district and sessions court has framed charges under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code including 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 376-D (gang rape), special public prosecutor J K Chopra said here.
The accused against whom charges were framed were Sanji Ram, his son Vishal, special police officers Deepak Khajuria alias Deepu and Surinder Verma, Parvesh Kumar alias Mannu, head constable Tilak Raj, and sub-inspector Arvind Datta.
Sanji Ram is considered to be the main accused who is alleged to have hatched the conspiracy with other accused for kidnapping the girl as a carefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area.
The fate of the eighth accused, who is a juvenile and nephew of Sanji Ram, was yet to be decided after the crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police claimed that he was an adult, Chopra said.
The court also framed charges for destruction of evidence and under section 328 (causing hurt by poisoning with an intent to hurt) of the RPC. The two policemen — Tilak Raj and Arvind Datta — were also charged under Section 161 (public servant taking illegal gratification) of the RPC, the special public prosecutor said.
The defence counsel contested before judge Tejwinder Singh that Parvesh Kumar was a juvenile which was strongly opposed by the prosecution, he said, adding the judge has asked the state to file their objections.
The crime branch had filed a charge sheet on April 9 in Kathua in the case of kidnap, rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl from January 10 this year. She was killed on January 14 and her body was recovered on January 17 triggering a massive political unrest in the state.
