Pathankot court frames charges against seven accused in Kathua case

Kathua Rape Case - The district and sessions court here today framed charges against seven of the eight accused of raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, officials said.

The eighth accused in the case is a juvenile.

The trial in the case began on May 31 with the seven accused being produced before the district and sessions judge after the Supreme Court shifted the hearing outside Jammu and Kashmir.

The case was transferred by the Supreme Court from Jammu and Kashmir to Pathankot in Punjab for a fair trial following a plea by the victim's family.

While transferring the case from Kathua to Pathankot, about 30 km away, the apex court directed day-to-day in-camera trial in the case.

According to the 15-page charge sheet of the Jammu and Kashmir's Crime Branch, the girl from a minority nomadic community, who was kidnapped on January 10 this year, was allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district. She was kept sedated for four days before being bludgeoned to death.

Kathua protest in Mumbai: Congress worker claims molestation by party youth

A woman Congress worker has complained to the party's city unit that she was allegedly molested by male colleagues on Sunday during a candle march held here to protest against the Kathua and Unnao rape cases. She complained to the party's Mumbai unit chief Sanjay Nirupam, who promised to take action against those found guilty. The protest march was organised by the party at Juhu. Talking to a news agency, Nirupam said the woman, who is a district-level party worker, sent a text message to him about the alleged incident.

In her message, the woman said, "The workers of Youth Congress and NSUI (party's students' wing) stooped to such low level that they touched, pushed and shoved women workers in an inappropriate manner, making us feel unsafe among our very own party's male colleagues.

"Sadly, some male workers did this to us only to get ahead in the march so that their faces were captured by the media. I want to know if women workers will be safe in similar events held in future?" her text message said. Nirupam said, "This incident is very unfortunate and I condemn it. I told the woman that he would take action if she identifies the persons involved. I told her that if she wished, he would help her file police cases against the accused. But she told me there was too much crowd, so it won't be possible for her to identify them."

Kathua rape case: Media houses apologise for revealing victim's identity

Media houses, issued notices for revealing the identity of the eight-year-old Kathua rape case victim, today apologised before the Delhi High Court and were directed to pay Rs 10 lakh each to the Jammu and Kashmir Victim Compensation Fund.

Advocates representing media houses told the court that the mistake of revealing the identity of the victim was due to their ignorance of the law and a misconception that they could name her as she was dead.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar directed that the compensation amount be deposited with the registrar general of the high court within a week and the money be transferred to the Jammu and Kashmir legal service authority's account to be used for Jammu and Kashmir's victim compensation scheme.

The bench also directed that wide and continuous publicity be given to the statutory provisions of law regarding privacy of victims of sexual offences and punishment for revealing their identities.

Kathua rape trial: Accused ready for narco test; next hearing on April 28

The Kathua rape and murder case trial, which began in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, will see its next hearing on April 28. The case is related to eight people allegedly holding an eight-year-old girl captive in a small village temple in the state's Kathua district for a week in January this year, sexually assaulting her, and then murdering her. The accused were ready to undergo narco tests, said their counsel. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will at 2 pm today hear the plea of the father of the Kathua rape victim to transfer the trial to Chandigarh. The Kathua rape case trials began a day after protests were staged in various parts of the country by citizens outraged by the heinous crime.

The accused in the Kathua case include a juvenile, against whom a separate charge sheet was filed. The juveline and the other accused will be facing separate trials. While seven of the accused perpetrators will be tried in the sessions court, the chief judicial magistrate of Kathua will hold the trial for the juvenile. The accused include four police officers and a retired government official.

After the Jammu Bar association and the Kathua Bar received a rap on the kuckles by the Supreme Court on April 13, as the apex court took a strong note of certain lawyers obstructing the judicial process in the case, the Kathua trial is expected to be conducted smoothly. However, the Supreme Court's actions in the matter and the Indian civil society's demand for justice in the Kathua case have not eased the challenges faced by the lawyer of the victim's family. The Kathua rape victim's lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat on Sunday said that she feared for her life as she might get raped or murdered. She added that she had been called anti-Hindu and boycotted socially.