Kathua Victim’s father moves Punjab HC, seeks death penalty for convicts

Just over a month after a Pathankot court convicted six of the seven accused in the Kathua rape-murder case, the victim’s father on Wednesday moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the solitary acquittal and seeking death penalty for the convicts after describing it as “rarest of the rare case”. In the appeal filed through counsel Rajvinder Singh Bains and Utsav Bains, the victim’s father submitted that the trial court sentenced Sanjhi Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar to life imprisonment for “cold-blooded, planned brutal murder, without any provocation…

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Battle of nerves for Jammu LS seat, Modi to hold rally in Kathua on April 11

With just days left for polling in the Jammu-Poonch parliamentary seat, arch-rivals BJP and Congress are leaving no stone unturned to reach out to voters in this politically significant Lok Sabha seat in the state. It will witness polling on April 11 in the first phase of the elections for the six seats of Parliament in J&K. With the Congress forging a pre-poll alliance with the National Conference (NC) and the PDP not fielding any candidate to consolidate “secular forces” aimed at stopping the spilt of Muslim votes, the election…

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Another witness says couldn’t read sedative name in brutal Kathua Rape & Murder Case

In a further setback to the prosecution in the brutal rape and murder case of the nomadic Kathua girl, one more witness has expressed his inability to recall the name of the sedative administered to the victim while she was being held captive at a temple. Naib-tehsildar Kamal Singh, a witness in the case, on Monday told the sessions court that “he couldn’t read the name of the medicine from the strip” recovered from Devsthan, sources told Kashmir Post. “I can’t say what kind of medicine it was,” Singh is…

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J&K Police withdraws plea to shift Kathua accused to Pathankot jail

The Jammu and Kashmir police on Monday withdrew its application requesting that the seven accused in the Kathua rape and murder case be moved to a Pathankot jail after the Punjab government told the court that their prisons were overcrowded, officials said. The issue came up as daily hearing in the case of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community in Kathua resumed in the court of District and Sessions Judge Tejwinder Singh after the weekend. The counsel for the Jammu and Kashmir police…

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Plea to shift Kathua Case accused to Pathankot jail

J&K Government’s special public prosecutor Santokh Singh Basra has moved an application with District and Sessions Judge Tejwinder Singh seeking shifting of seven of the eight accused to the Pathankot sub-jail in the Kathua rape-murder case. The eighth accused is a juvenile. After the hearing began in the case here on Thursday, the accused are commuting daily from Kathua, where they are lodged in a jail, in a J&K Police bus. The Judge will pass an order on Basra’s application on June 4. Basra also apologised to the court for…

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Conspiracy to evict the nomads behind Kathua rape and murder

The “conspiracy” allegedly orchestrated by Shanji Ram, principal accused responsible for the abduction, rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl of Rasana, to evict the nomads from the Kathua was responsible for the incident. At least three accused in the case, were against the “settlement” of Bakkarwals in the area that led to the horrific crime in January. The enmity among the majority Hindu community against the nomadic Bakkarwals has the two main reasons behind it: “one acquiring land by Bakkarwals and second animal grazing in forest pastures of Rasana,…

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Kathua girl was drugged, held captive in temple

Medical investigation into the rape and murder of Asifa has revealed the child was drugged and held captive inside a temple before she died of asphyxiation, an official said. Investigation into the rape and murder of Asifa, the eight-year-old victim has been concluded by the Crime Branch (CB) of the state police and a charge-sheet against the accused is likely to be filed next week. Forensic evidence has also confirmed the child was held captive inside a temple. An official told Kashmir Post that the CB has concluded investigation in…

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Kathua residents urged Mehbooba Mufti to scrap Lakhanpur toll

Kathua residents meet Mehbooba, raise issue of illegal mining from Ravi canal The toll at Lakhanpur, the gateway of J&K, and the unabated illegal extraction of minerals from the Ravi canal predominantly came under discussion of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti with local deputations during a grievance camp in Kathua today. The camp was organised under the Chief Minister’s Public Outreach Programme. “The continuation of toll at Lakhanpur after the introduction of GST in the state has defied the idea of ‘one nation, one tax’. It is like people being looted…

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Search ops launched in Hiranagar after three armed men spotted

Amid the prevailing tension on the International Border in Hiranagar, an input about the movement of “three armed men” in a border village of Hiranagar sector today kept security agencies — Army, CRPF and Kathua police — on their toes. Immediately after the input, the Army and the police launched a massive search operation in the Maheshechak area of Hiranagar to trace the suspected militants, whom a man had seen in a field. Garrjeet Singh of Maheshechak village said he had seen three armed men suspected to be militants in…

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In Badanaal village, water is rationed from its only well : Latur of JK

Chowkidar guards the well 24×7; water theft carries penalty — no water for 5 days At Badanaal village in Ghatti panchayat, 25 km from Kathua district headquarters, a chowkidar-cum-panchayat member has been guarding one of two wells, the only source of water in the village, round the clock since the onset of summer to keep away “water thieves”. The second well of the village is dried up. Every morning, chowkidar Sardar Singh comes up with a measuring utensil to provide only 15 litres water per family from the well. A…

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