Tragedy Strikes Kathua: Two Houses Collapse in Heavy Rains, 5 Feared Dead with 3 Bodies Recovered

Tragedy Strikes Kathua: Two Houses Collapse in Heavy Rains, 5 Feared Dead with 3 Bodies Recovered

Three persons died and two others are feared dead after two houses collapsed following heavy rains in Bani area of Kathua district, officials and reports said on Wednesday. They said two Houses belonging to Mushtaq Ahmed and Abdul Qayum collapsed in Surjan Morha Aruad Block in Bani due to heavy rainfall. Five persons including children got buried under these houses and the bodies of three persons one of them identified as Mohammad Arif son ofAbdul Qayum have been recovered so far by the rescuers including police and local volunteers, they…

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Tragic Flash Floods in Kathua: Four Girl Students Swept Away, 2 Lives Lost

Tragic Flash Floods in Kathua: Four Girl Students Swept Away, 2 Lives Lost

Two students were killed, one was injured and another was rescued after they were swept away during a flash flood in Jammu and Kashmir’s Dall Khadd of Bajoi Billawar town in Kathua district on Saturday. The deceased were identified as Radha Devi (13) and Monica Devi (13). Kathua SSP, SDS Jamwal said, “Four girls were returning home after attending their school at around 4 pm when they were swept away in a flash flood in a rivulet near Dall.” “While one girl, who was a class 8 student, was rescued, another…

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Protests erupt as demolition drive takes place in Kathua

Protests erupt as demolition drive takes place in Kathua

Demonstrations were held by locals and members of the business community in Kathua when authorities demolished a commercial complex on Friday. The owner of the building alleged that he was not notified before the demolition drive. Policemen were deployed in large numbers at Shaheedi Chowk where the demolition was carried out. The team of Kathua Municipal Council was led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Santosh Kotwal. Mohinder Mahajan, who is the owner of the building, reached the spot and protested against the action. Heated arguments between officials and building owner…

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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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