The frequent use of these assault rifles by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, according to experts, is a consequence of the US Army leaving behind arms and ammunition while pulling out from Afghanistan in 2021 and is a cause of concern due to the more lethal nature of the steel bullets used.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra directed the Jammu-Kashmir Police to file a supplementary chargesheet in the case within eight weeks.
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.
A Pakistani intruder was also killed in the exchange of fire, they added.
The girl was allegedly repeatedly assaulted before being killed at a village in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district in January.
Five troopers of the Rashtriya Rifles and a special police officer were injured Tuesday night when the terrorists attacked a joint check post in the upper reaches of Chattergalla on the Bhaderwah-Pathankot road in the hilly district.
'India doesn't belong to these people, it's ours.' 'We need to wake up and save India right now.'
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 casualty comes barely a week after multiple ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the LoC in north Kashmir left 11 people, including five security personnel, dead on November 13.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the family of the Kathua rape victim should get justice.
The home minister also reviewed the preparations for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage scheduled to begin on June 29.
The apex court, after perusing the report, said it would not 'digress' from the main issue of ensuring a fair trial, not only for the accused but also for the victim's family.
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.
Delhi high court restrained the media from revealing the identity of the victim by any means.
Every trick in the trade is being tried unabashedly.
In simple arithmetical terms every possible 'arrangement' is being made to deny a majority to its rivals. A split verdict would hand a vital advantage to the BJP which is adept at extracting the best out of such a situation, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The matter was deliberately hyped, Gupta added. The case is in court, which will decide on it, he said.
'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'
The recent terror acts are a sign of our enemy's desperation, he said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.
The grief-stricken mother wishes for death penalty for the guilty.
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.
'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.
The signatories to the letter include scholars from universities across the globe including the New York University, the Brown University, the Harvard, the Columbia and prominent IITs.
Forest Minister Chaudhary Lal Singh and Industries Minister Chander Prakash had attended the rally.
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.
Vishal had claimed that he was in Meerut and had never visited Kathua when the crime was committed.
Prominent names such as Kamal Hassan, Supriya Sule and Omar Abdullah condemned the Kathua rape and asked the PM to speak up.
A senior police officer said four heavily-armed terrorists stopped a vehicle on the Jammu-Pathankote national highway on Friday morning and opened fire at the occupants of the vehicle, killing one person on the spot and seriously injuring three others.
A policeman was also injured in the gunfight that broke out in Bajaad village in the Gandoh area around 9:50 am.
The lawyer also said that she has been called anti-Hindu and has been boycotted socially.
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.
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 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.
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 support for the eight-year-old girl was growing with politicians, cutting across party lines, seeking justice for her.
A massive manhunt is underway for three foreign terrorists, possibly of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, responsible for the deadly attack on pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi that resulted in the loss of nine lives, including a two-year-old, officials involved in the investigation said on Monday.
As part of the heightened security arrangements in view of Modi's visit, the officials said, the BSF and the police conducted a joint two-hour-long anti-tunnelling operation in the Ramgarh sector of Samba district.
Police on Wednesday arrested seven Bharatiya Janata Party activists as they made a vain bid to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, which had been turned into a fortress to foil the party's plan.
The hostages were reportedly tortured throughout Saturday night before three of them were killed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a solution to the Ukraine conflict is not possible on the battlefield and peace efforts do not succeed in the midst of bombs and bullets even as he flagged concerns over a missile strike on a children's hospital in Kyiv.
The application is riddled with careless mistakes and raised doubts about its veracity.
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