Police in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir have solved the murder case of an 18-year-old youth within 24 hours, arresting the accused and recovering the weapon used in the crime.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has rejected bail for Shubham Sangra, the main accused in the 2018 rape and murder case of a minor nomad girl in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, citing the heinous nature of the crime.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a plea from Sanji Ram, the mastermind behind the 2018 rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua, refusing to suspend his life sentence.
Three individuals wanted in connection with multiple robbery cases in Delhi have been apprehended in Kathua district following a joint operation by Delhi Police and Jammu and Kashmir Police.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has called for a high-level investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a girl in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, demanding immediate justice and protection for the victim's family.
Haryana government suspends jail officials after a terror accused was murdered inside Neemka Jail in Faridabad. The victim, Abdul Rehman, was allegedly involved in a conspiracy to attack the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Jammu and Kashmir Police detained an alleged gangster, Pritam Singh, under the Public Safety Act in Samba for involvement in unlawful possession of weapons and narcotics-related offences.
Mohd Ali, Haji Anayat Ali of Kargil and their assistants Shero Ali and Nazir Ahmad of Kathua had gone to the higher reaches of Warwan in J-K's Kishtwar district to purchase livestock in August 1998 but did not return to their homes.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made in and around the court and in Kathua in view of the pronouncement of the judgement, officials said Sunday.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising said the case should be transferred to Chandigarh due to proximity to Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and the incidents of obstruction of police personnel by lawyers of the local court.
The matter was deliberately hyped, Gupta added. The case is in court, which will decide on it, he said.
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.
'Indian consciousness was raped in Unnao and then in Kathua'
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 charge sheet was committed to sessions court in Kathua which has fixed January 24 as the next date of hearing in the case.
The appointment has raised eye-brows. People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti called it a 'shocking violation' of the spirit of justice and alleged that it will encourage 'rape culture'.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra directed the Jammu-Kashmir Police to file a supplementary chargesheet in the case within eight weeks.
Conspirator's family expressed doubt about the credibility of the probe by the crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir.
A shoddily drafted application for birth certificate was the loose string that led to the unravelling of the conspiracy to proclaim one of those accused in the 2018 gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua as a juvenile.
The sessions court in Pathankot had on Monday sentenced Sanji Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parwesh Kumar to life and the three dismissed policemen -- Anand Dutta, Tikal Raj and Surinder Singh -- to five years in jail.
The rape-and-murder of the eight-year-old Bakerwal community girl has created a controversy after lawyers in Jammu called for a shutdown on Wednesday, demanding the case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The application came up for hearing on Thursday before a division bench of justices Tejinder Singh Dhindsa and Lalit Batra through video conferencing during which the counsel for Jammu and Kashmir R S Cheema requested for a new date that was granted.
The apex court directed members of the bar not to obstruct judicial proceedings in the Kathua gang rape and murder case in Jammu and Kashmir
He said the party has not extended an invitation to Singh to join the yatra.
An accused in the rape-and-murder case, who was earlier said to be a juvenile, is over 19 years old, the official said, quoting medical reports.
M C Mary Kom, who is also a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, said the alarming increase in the number of rapes in the country has left her feeling "hurt and helpless" while star shuttler Saina Nehwal condemned the 'ghastly crimes'.
The quantum of punishment will be announced later on Monday.
However, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra refrained from handing over the probe to the CBI and directed that the trial be fast-tracked to ensure there was no delay.
Villagers living near the International Border and Line of Control in Jammu are on high alert following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, preparing underground bunkers and accelerating crop harvesting. The incident has heightened security concerns despite a renewed ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan in 2021. Residents are demanding swift action against the perpetrators and their handlers.
People, carrying "Not In My Name" placards and forming human chains, protested across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa and Kerala.
The apex court also took note of a plea of the victim's father seeking transfer of the trial of the case from Kathua, preferably to Chandigarh and sought response of the state government.
To demand justice for the eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir and the teenager in UP's Unnao, the Congress party led a candelight vigil to India Gate in New Delhi.
Forest Minister Chaudhary Lal Singh and Industries Minister Chander Prakash had attended the rally.
'Cases of molestation and rape are reaching the doorstep of households irrespective of their socio-economic status. That's the extent to which criminals are feeling emboldened today.'
The support for the eight-year-old girl was growing with politicians, cutting across party lines, seeking justice for her.
The judge started his order with the couplet from Ghalib's ghazal -- Pinha tha daam-e-sakht qareeb ashiyaan ke, udhne hi nahi paye the ki girftar hum hue.
'There are communal overtones in the chargesheet.' 'Hindus and Muslims live peacefully in Jammu and by highlighting such facts in the chargesheet they are committing a conspiracy against Jammu.' The reason: A Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the Kathua rape-cum-murder case (see box below) and the deportation of Rohingya immigrants. Speaking to Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf, B S Salathia, Jammu Bar Association explains their call for a bandh and the communal divide it has brought about in Jammu.
Vishal had claimed that he was in Meerut and had never visited Kathua when the crime was committed.
Investigators say the aim of the kidnapping was to scare and drive away the nomadic Gujjar and Bakarwal communities from the Hindu dominated area.
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.
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