Protests for the 2018 Kathua abduction, gang rape and murder case
Location Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Coordinates 32.385°N 75.517°ECoordinates: 32.385°N 75.517°E
Date 10 January 2018-
17 January 2018
Target Asifa Bano
Attack type Abduction, gang rape, and murder
Injured Sexual assault (gang rape)
Victim Asifa Bano
Accused Sanji Ram (Temple Priest)
Deepak Khajuria (Police Officer)
Tilak Raj (Head Constable)
Arvind Dutta (Sub-Inspector)
Parvesh Kumar (Police Officer)
Vishal (son of Sanji Ram)
A Juvenile (nephew of Sanji Ram)[1][2]
Convicted Sanji Ram
Deepak Khajuria
Surender Verma
Tilak Raj
Anand Dutta
Parvesh Kumar.[3]
Verdict Six of the seven accused were convicted
Convictions Sanji Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar were sentenced to life imprisonment of 25 years.
Tilak Raj, Anand Dutta and Surender Verma were sentenced to five years in jail for destroying evidence.
Court acquitted Vishal due to lack of evidence.
A juvenile, will be tried at a juvenile court.[4]
The Kathua rape case involved the abduction, gang rape, and murder of an 8-year-old Muslim girl, Asifa Bano, by six men and a juvenile, in January 2018 in the Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, India. A chargesheet for the case was filed, the accused were arrested and the trial began in Kathua on 16 April 2018.[5][6] The victim belonged to the nomadic Bakarwal community. She disappeared for a week before her body was discovered by the villagers a kilometer away from the village.[7][8][9][10] The incident made national news when charges were filed against eight men in April 2018. The arrests of the accused led to protests by the Panthers Party and other local groups, who sought justice for the victim.[11][12][13][14] A protest in support of the accused men was attended by two ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party, both of whom later resigned. The gang rape and murder, as well as the support the accused received, sparked widespread outrage in India and world-wide.[15][16][7]
On 10 June 2019, six of the seven defendants were convicted and one acquitted.[17] Three of those convicted were sentenced to life imprisonment and the remaining three to five years.[18] In October 2019, court ordered a First Information Report (FIR) against 6 members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which probed the case, for allegedly torturing and coercing witnesses to give false statements.[19]
Incident
Complaint
The 5600-word chargesheet filed by a Senior Superintendent of Police of Jammu, states that on 12 January 2018, Mohammad Yusuf lodged a complaint in the Hiranagar police station stating that his daughter had gone missing. His complaint said that on 10 January 2018 his daughter, aged 8, had gone to watch over grazing horses at 12.30 p.m. She was seen at 2.00 p.m., but when the horses returned at 4.00 p.m., she was no longer with them. After searching for her and being unable to find her, her father registered a First Information Report (FIR) with the police.
Forensic evidence
The post-mortem revealed the presence of clonazepam in the body of the dead girl. The examination by the doctors found that the girl had been drugged with a sedative before she was raped and murdered. Forensic evidence suggested that she had been held for several days by Sanji Ram, one of the individuals accused of the crime. Strands of hair recovered from the temple matched those taken from the girl.[16] The forensic examination stated that Bano had been raped multiple times by different men, and that she had been strangled to death, as well as hit in the head with a heavy stone.
The Delhi Forensic Science Laboratory analyzed 14 packets of evidence containing vaginal swabs, hair strands, blood samples of four accused, viscera of the deceased girl, the girl’s frock and salwar, simple clay, and blood stained clay. Vaginal swabs matched with the DNA of the accused as did some other samples. Hair strands found in the temple where Asifa was raped matched that of the girl and the accused.
The accused
Sanji Ram was found to be the main accused in the case. He is the priest of the family temple, where the incident took place. The Hindu community of the village prays three times a day in that temple according to local people. His son Vishal and his nephew, a juvenile, were also accused in the case. The others who have been accused are Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar, who are police officers; Tilak Raj, a head constable and Arvind Dutta, a sub inspector. The police contested the claim that the nephew is a juvenile.[1][2][27][28] Vishal Jangotra claimed to be in Meerut attending an exam. However, according to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), his signature does not match the signature on the exam attendance sheet.[29]
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