CCTV footage – first shown on Zee News – showed Vishal was in Muzaffarnagar on January 15.Sanji Ram's son Vishal alibi that he was taking an exam on the date of the incident was accepted by the court.
Six of the seven accused in the horrific gangrape-and-murder case of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua were convicted by a court here on Monday, lawyers said.
A seventh accused, Vishal -- son of main accused Sanji Ram -- was acquitted by the court, giving him the 'benefit of doubt', said Farooqi Khan, who represented the victim's family in the court.
The court pronounced its much-awaited verdict away from the gaze of media which has gathered outside the premises.
CCTV footage – first shown on Zee News – showed Vishal was in Muzaffarnagar on January 15.Sanji Ram's son Vishal alibi that he was taking an exam on the date of the incident was accepted by the court.
The charge-sheet had claimed that Vishal was in Kathua from January 12 to January 15, but videos showed that that he was instead in Muzaffarnagar. CCTV footage aired by Zee News on May 1 showed that Vishal Jangrota was instead in an ATM of the Corporation Bank of Meerapura of Muzaffarnagar on January 15. The timestamp showed it was 3:47 PM
The videos aired by Zee News clearly showed that the charge-sheet was errorneous, and Vishal was indeed in Muzaffarnagar.
The court also appreciated Zee News' efforts.
The citation read: "The court is of the considered view that the evidence in detail as discussed above, broadly supports the news clip of Zee news relating to presence of Vishal Jangotra @Shamma at Meeranpur, Muzaffarnagar during the period of occurrence and as is the present case Raju Kerni, Bureau Chief Zee News, Jammu (DW-15) has certified that the CD and pen drive to be genuine one as per actual occurrence and without modification, therefore the same can certainly be relied upon for reaching a just decision. The genuine efforts made by Zee News, particularly Editor-in-chief of Zee News and staff needs to be appreciation as they have tried their level best to bring the actual truth on surface.”
1. Vishal's landlady told Zee news he was there in Muzaffarnagar
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Zee News reporters had spoken to Vishal’s landlady as well and procured pictures of her daughter birthday which was taken by Vishal and shared with the landlady’s family.
क्राइम ब्रांच की जांच पर सवाल उठाने वाला एक और CCTV वीडियो सामने आया@sudhirchaudhary#KathuaCCTV पर ट्वीट कर दीजिए अपनी प्रतिक्रिया pic.twitter.com/NUgUWLLQu4
— Zee News Hindi (@ZeeNewsHindi) May 1, 2018
2. One juvenile among accused
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"We have sought capital punishment against all three accused convicted of murder and gang rape. It was hard work of all of us and a perfect blend of investigation and legal brains. We have achieve 99 per cent result," the statement said.
The crime branch of J&K Police had filed the chargesheet against eight persons, including a juvenile.
According to the 15-page chargesheet filed in April last year, the girl was kidnapped on January 10 that year and was allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple, exclusively manned by Ram, after having been kept sedated for four days. She was later bludgeoned to death.
The day-to-day trial commenced in the first week of June last year at the district and sessions court in Pathankot in neighbouring state of Punjab, about 100 km from Jammu and 30 km from Kathua, after the Supreme Court ordered on May 7, 2018 that the case be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir.
The apex court order came after lawyers in Kathua prevented Crime Branch officials from filing a chargesheet in the sensational case, which shocked the nation.
Six of the seven accused in the horrific gangrape-and-murder case of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua were convicted by a court here on Monday, lawyers said.
A seventh accused, namely Vishal -- son of main accused Sanji Ram -- was acquitted by the court, giving him the 'benefit of doubt', said Farooqi Khan, who represented the victim's family in the court.
The court pronounced its much-awaited verdict away from the gaze of media which has gathered outside the premises.
Sanji Ram, the caretaker of the temple where the crime took place, Special Police Officer Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar, a civilian, have been convicted under Ranbir Penal Code sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy, murder, gangrape and destruction of evidence, the lawyers said.
Two police officials -- Sub Inspector Anand Dutta and Head Constable Tilak Raj --and a special police officer Surender Verma have been convicted for destruction of evidence, they said.
The quantum of sentence will be pronounced by the court at 2 PM, they said.
The prosecution team, comprising lawyers J K Chopra, S S Basra, Harminder Singh and Bhupinder Singh, issued a brief statement, saying they would examine the judgement and may go in for appeal against the sole acquittal.
3. Who CBI arrested?
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The Crime Branch arrested Ram, his juvenile nephew and his son Vishal, and two special police officers Khajuria and Verma. Raj and Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Ram and destroyed crucial evidence, were also arrested.
The charges of rape and murder were framed by the district and sessions judge against seven out of the eight accused.
The trial against the juvenile is yet to begin as his petition on determining his age is to be heard by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
The court framed charges under the Ranbir Penal Code(RPC), including Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 376-D (gang-rape), according to the prosecution.
The court also framed charges of destruction of evidence and causing hurt by poisoning under Section 328 of the RPC.
The two policemen - Raj and Datta - were also charged under Section 161 (public servant taking illegal gratification) of the RPC.
All the accused, barring the juvenile, were shifted to the Gurdaspur jail in Punjab following an intervention by the Supreme Court which also restricted appearance of the defence lawyers and limited it to one or maximum of two per accused.
The chargesheet said the girl had gone missing while grazing horses.
Investigators said the accused juvenile had abducted the girl on the pretext of helping her find her horses.
The abduction, rape and killing of the child was part of a carefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area, the chargesheet said.
4. Quantum of Punishment
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Three main accused in the gangrape-and-murder of an eight-year-old nomad girl from Kathua were on Monday sentenced to life imprisonment by a court here, lawyers said. Sanji Ram, the caretaker of the temple where the crime took place, Special Police Officer Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar, a civilian, have been convicted under Ranbir Penal Code sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy, murder, kidnapping, gangrape, destruction of evidence, drugging the victim and common intention. the lawyers said. They have been sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 1 lakh each for murder along with 25 years in jail for gangrape, they said. Three accomplices -- Sub Inspector Anand Dutta, Head Constable Tilak Raj and special police officer Surender Verma -- who were convicted for destruction of evidence have been handed over five years imprisonment, they said.
