Kathua rape-and-murder case verdict tomorrow
Pathankot (Punjab), Jun 9: The verdict in the case of rape and murder of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir will be delivered by a special court here on Monday.
The in-camera trial in the case that shook the nation ended on June 3, when district and sessions judge Tejwinder Singh had announced that the verdict was likely to be delivered on June 10.
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.
The situation will be monitored closely, they said.
According to the 15-page charge sheet, the eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped on January 10 last year, was allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district after having been kept sedated for four days before she was 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 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 charge sheet in the sensational case, which shocked the nation.
The prosecution team in the case comprised J K Chopra, S S Basra and Harminder Singh.
The Crime Branch arrested village head Sanji Ram, his son Vishal, juvenile nephew and his friend Anand Dutta, and two special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma. Head constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Sanji Ram and destroyed crucial evidence, were also arrested.
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 accused, if convicted, face minimum life imprisonment and maximum death penalty.
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 Gurdaspur jail 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 charge sheet said the girl had gone missing while grazing horses. Investigators said the accused juvenile had abducted the girl under 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, it said.
The case had become a bone of contention between the then ruling alliance partners PDP and the BJP after two ministers of the saffron party, Chowdhury Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, participated in a rally organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch in support of the accused arrested by the state crime branch.
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Marxism will remain relevant despite Left electoral's losses, says general secretary M A Baby
New Delhi (PTI): CPI(M) General Secretary M A Baby on Thursday asserted that the Left movement would remain relevant despite not being in power in any state, saying the ideology would continue to endure as long as social and economic inequalities persist.
Hitting back at BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar over his reported remarks that Marxism had become irrelevant, Baby, in an interview with PTI Videos, said, "So long as there is division in society, so long as there is exploitation of the majority of workers, peasants and ordinary masses by a handful of billionaires, Marxism will remain relevant."
"That perhaps Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar may not be able to understand, but this is the fact of the matter," he said.
Baby acknowledged that the CPI(M)-led Left was currently without an elected government in any state, but maintained that electoral setbacks would not diminish the movement's role.
"We may not have an elected government in any state. There were occasions when we didn't have a government. But the red flag and the commitment to organise and struggle for the rights of the dispossessed, marginalised and exploited will always be upheld by CPI(M) and the Left movement," he said.
He said the Left continued to enjoy support among workers, peasants, agricultural labourers, youth, students and women, and argued that the movement remained necessary because "oppression and assault" continued in society.
"So long as such problems exist in society, the red flag and the working class movement will continue to work among the masses," the Left leader said.
Exuding confidence on the Left's revival, Baby said the party would reflect on the reasons behind its electoral loss.
"We may be rejected in one election, but we will stage our comeback by understanding what went wrong with us," he said, adding, "We will listen to people and we will come back with higher strength."
Baby also criticised the Congress over reported factional tensions in Kerala after the Congress-led United Democratic Front's victory in the state.
"The way they are behaving is being watched by the people of Kerala," he said, referring to infighting within the Congress.
"Those who have given a massive majority to Congress and UDF would be watching all this," he added, while urging party leaders to "settle the problem in an amicable, democratic manner".
Referring to West Bengal, Baby alleged that violence had escalated following the BJP's victory in the state assembly polls.
"It is quite unfortunate that the moment BJP snatched a massive victory in West Bengal, violence has also started on a big scale," he said.
He also accused the Trinamool Congress of being "notorious for violent activities" and alleged that the "RSS-controlled BJP" had "unleashed violence in many places" after the election results.
"This is not good for Bengal, not good for the country. We wish and hope that normalcy would be restored as soon as possible," he said.
Baby said the CPI(M) and the Left in West Bengal would continue efforts to "pacify people" and avoid violence and confrontation.
Asked about former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan not reacting publicly to the election results, Baby said Vijayan would respond "at an appropriate time".
