Kupwara: Four sentenced to death for rape,murder of 13 year-old girl

Four persons were on Friday sentenced to death by a sessions court in Kupwara for the gangrape and murder of a 13-year-old girl eight years ago while she was returning from school.

Terming it as a rarest of rare case, Principal District and Sessions Judge Kupwara Mohammad Ibrahim Wani awarded the death penalty to convicts Sadiq Mir, Azhar Ahmad Mir, both residents of Langate in Kupwara, Mochi Jahangir Ansari of West Bengal and Suresh Kumar of Rajasthan, who had gangraped the child and slit her throat, before burying her. Emotional scenes were witnessed in the court as relatives of the victim broke down when the judge read out the verdict against the four for gangraping and murdering the class 8th student on June 27, 2007.

After hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence, the court agreed with Senior Public Prosecutor Ghulam Muhammad Shah, who sought death penalty for all four convicts, terming it a rarest of rare case.

Shah said 88 witnesses had recorded their statements during the seven-year-long trial in the case.

"It was a Friday when she was killed and it is on Friday when our wounds have been healed. Justice has been done," an uncle of the victim said. He also thanked the state government for instituting a bravery award in her memory.

The state government in 2012 had instituted an award in her name to recognise the acts of bravery of children.