Long denied the right to vote, members of the Valmiki community exercised their franchise for the first time in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections on Tuesday and termed it as a "historic moment".
"Give up arms and come for talks or our forces will hunt you down," the home minister said in election rallies in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the chargesheets filed by the crime branch, the abduction, rape and killing of the Bakerwal girl was part of a carefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area.
Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire twice along the Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Kathua districts, drawing retaliation from the Border Security Force.
Singh, 26, who was undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu, died around 11.45 pm, police said.
While seven accused were presented before the district and sessions judge, the eighth is a juvenile who moved a bail application before a judicial magistrate.
The home minister will also review the preparation for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage set to start on June 29.
Sanji Ram and Vishal Jangotra, who were chargesheeted by the crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police in the case, claimed that the police had miserably failed to conduct a "fair and effective" probe and alleged that "tainted" officers were part of special investigation team which probed the matter.
The official said the firing and mortar shelling from the Pakistani side started around 1 am and continued for over four-and-a-half hours.
They said a massive search operation has been launched to trace any weapon or explosive that it might have dropped.
People along the Line of Control and International Border in the Jammu region continue to live under the shadow of death, with unexploded mortar shells fired by Pakistani troops still embedded in farmlands and residential areas even though hostilities have stopped for nearly a week. IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: / Rediff.com Despite the May 10 understanding between India and Pakistan, locals describe the border areas as a 'death trap'. Sixty-two-year-old Balvinder Singh, who returned to his home in Pargwal sector on May 14, recounted a narrow escape. "Two shells exploded in our compound, damaging our house. Three more landed on our farmland. We were terrified and told our family to stay away from the fields until the Army could help," Singh told PTI. Army engineers later came to the village and safely defused the unexploded shells, bringing a temporary sense of relief. "Fear is writ large on the faces of people to these death traps in border hamlets", he said. Scenes of destruction are evident rooftops torn apart, broken houses, windows punctured by shrapnel, and carcasses of cattle lying in pools of blood. The acrid smell of gunpowder still lingers in the air. Sardar Gurmeet Singh faced a similar ordeal. His family could not re-enter their home as a live mortar shell had sunk into the compound in a village close to the International Border. "The army's bomb disposal squad removed it after four days, allowing us to finally enter, back home," he said. Indian Army engineers have launched a sweeping clearance operation across border districts, defusing over 80 unexploded shells in the past five days -- including 6 in Pargwal, 19 in Rajouri, 42 in Poonch, and 12 along the IB. "These shells, mostly 120 mm calibre, have a range of 15 to 30 km and pose a serious threat to both civilian and military targets," an Army officer said. "Many of them were fired by Pakistan during recent hostilities." On May 7, the Indian Army launched Operation Sindoor, conducting precision strikes on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. The subsequent retaliation by Pakistan pushed the region to the brink of war. From 7 to 10 of May, 27 civilians were killed and over 70 injured in Pakistani shelling in the Jammu region. Farid Din Gujjar, a resident near the border, expressed fear about returning to his fields. "Several shells created deep craters in our paddy land. We cannot resume work until all unexploded ordnance is cleared. It's a death trap," he said. Army units, in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Police, have evacuated high-risk zones and issued stern warnings to residents not to touch any suspicious objects or unexploded shells. In one major operation, 42 live shells were safely destroyed in the Poonch villages of Jhullas, Salotri, Dharati and Salani. "All safety protocols were followed. The shells posed a serious danger to local lives," an Army spokesperson said, calling the effort a 'continued commitment to protect civilians and restore normalcy'. Poonch saw the vast majority of deaths due to shelling. Security officials said that Pakistan used a mix of mortar shells, armed drones, and missiles during the shelling spree, specifically targeting civilian habitations and border towns in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, and Poonch. As clearance operations continue, the border residents are slowly returning to their homes, but with caution, fear, and lingering uncertainty about shelling that may yet happen in the future.
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.
Advocates representing the media houses told the court that the mistake of disclosing the name and showing photograph of the victim was due to their ignorance of the law.
Pakistani troops on Monday violated the ceasefire, targeting 4 villages in Hiranagar sector of the international border.
The recent terror acts are a sign of our enemy's desperation, he said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.
The incident occurred ahead of the annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas for which security has been tightened.
'We cannot endanger our national security by indulging in false bravado, fake narratives and high-decibel whitewashing. As a nation, we have to collectively fight the scourge of cross-border terrorism'
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the family of the Kathua rape victim should get justice.
"A high alert has been sounded in Kathua district and entry into the state from neighbouring Punjab at Lakhanpur is being monitored and checked", said a senior police officer in winter capital Jammu.
The quantum of punishment will be announced later on Monday.
The local recruitment of terrorists in the Pakistan-sponsored terror groups is also very low as only four locals have joined these groups this year, Army officials told ANI.
The grief-stricken mother wishes for death penalty for the guilty.
A policeman was also injured in the gunfight that broke out in Bajaad village in the Gandoh area around 9:50 am.
The blast occurred when security forces were combing some parts of Bani forest area in Kathua district.
The home minister also reviewed the preparations for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage scheduled to begin on June 29.
Voting for this crucial phase, covering 40 assembly segments across seven districts -- Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in north Kashmir -- is scheduled for October 1.
An army jawan was injured on Tuesday as Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control in the Pallanwala sector of Jammu district, drawing retaliation from Indian forces. This is the fifth ceasefire violation in the past one week.
Earlier in the day protesters defied curfew in Udhampur in Jammu region, hit by violence over the Amarnath land row, even as life in Kashmir valley remained paralysed for third consecutive day following a strike call given by a separatist group.
Pakistani troops resorted to firing and mortar shelling along the International Border in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing the sixth convocation at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, the chief minister said the heinous act of the perpetrators "has shocked us as a society" and showed that the value system was facing a crisis.
The repatriation orders for the two Indian Police Service officers come in the backdrop of a spate of terror incidents in the Jammu region, along the India-Pakistan border.
Pakistani Rangers violated the ceasefire by resorting to firing by small arms on Indian posts along the international border in Jammu district, prompting the Border Security Force to retaliate.
"The prime minister asked them to deploy the full spectrum of our counter-terror capabilities," an official source said.
The bodies of two village defence guards (VDG) killed by terrorists were found near a rivulet on Friday during a massive search operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, officials said.
The residents of Phule Malwadi hope this desperate act will draw attention to their problem.
The body of a junior commissioned officer was retrieved from a stream in the Poshana area of Surankote late Saturday evening, while the body of a second soldier was found this morning as the water level started receding in the district.
Indian troops retaliated befittingly to silence the Pakistani guns along the LoC in Mankote, Mendhar and Khari Karmara sectors in Poonch district and along the IB in Hiranagar sector of Kathua district, they said, adding there was no immediate report of any casualty.
The troops of these two units are expected to be based in Samba and near the Jammu-Punjab border, the sources said.
The spies revealed that they were tasked by the ISI officer to revive militancy in Jammu by recruiting youth in the region.
The encounter took place when the troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group of J&K Police launched a joint cordon and search operation at Dhari Gote Urarbagi in Desa forest belt, some 55 km from Doda town, late Monday evening, the officials said.
