Kathua trial to begin in Pathankot today

All the eight accused, including a juvenile, will be produced before the Sessions Court in the judicial court complex during the day-to-day trial.

Security arrangements at Pathankot Judicial Complex where the Kathua rape case trial will begin today. (Express photo by Sofi Ahsan)

Trial of the Kathua rape and murder case will commence at the Judicial Court Complex Pathankot on Thursday amid tight security arrangements. The eight people accused in the case will be brought from Kathua and produced before the Sessions court in Pathankot.

Supreme Court on May 07 had ordered transfer of the trial from Kathua to Pathankot and given directions for holding a speedy, day-to-day in-camera trial of the case after a plea was filed by the eight-year-old victim girl’s father who had said that a fair trial is not possible at Kathua, some 29 Kilometers from here. The trial will be presided over by the Pathankot District and Sessions Judge Dr. Tejwinder Singh, who has been directed by the Supreme Court to take the case himself and not transfer it to any Additional Sessions Judge.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Pathankot, Vivek Sheei Soni told The Indian Express that all the necessary precautions regarding security arrangements will be taken by the Pathankot Police. “The Bar here is absolutely supportive of a fair trial. We do not anticipate any problem. In fact, the Bar had an interaction with all the parties and I also had an interaction with the Bar. They were very positive and have asserted that let the law prevail. There is a huge difference between the problems witnessed in Kathua and here,” he said.

All the necessary precautions regarding security arrangements will be taken by the Pathankot Police (Express photo by Sofi Ahsan)

J&K government last week appointed a senior Gurdaspur-based lawyer Santokh Singh Basra as a Special Public Prosecutor for the case. He will be assisted by Chief Prosecuting Officers S. Bhopinder Singh and Harminder Singh, both of whom are from Jammu. Basra is a leading criminal lawyer in Gurdaspur district of Punjab and has been practicing since 1973. During the 45 year long experience, he has appeared in many high-profile cases of the state with latest being the rape case against former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) minister Sucha Singh Langah.

Official sources said that some of the documents related to the case are yet to be translated and it would require some more time to translate them from Urdu to English. The files related to the case will be presented before the Sessions Court on Thursday. While the accused persons are still in the judicial custody of Jammu and Kashmir Police, sources said that it is likely that there could be a request before the Sessions Court to keep them in Pathankot only in view of the fast-track trial of the case.

The chargesheet has already been submitted in the case on April 09 before the Kathua court and now charges will be framed against the accused by the court in the next stage of trial. According to the SIT which probed the case, the abduction, rape and murder of the eight-year-old was part of a plan to “dislodge the Bakerwal Community from Rasana area” in Kathua.

There are eight accused in the case: former revenue official Sanji Ram, Special Police Officers Deepak Khajuria and Surinder Kumar, Parvesh Kumar, Ram’s son Vishal Jangotra and a juvenile, who is nephew of Ram. Two investigating officers – Head Constable Tilak Raj and Sub-Inspector Anand Dutta, are accused of destroying crucial evidence in the case.

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Kathua Rape Case