Kathua judge relied on Zee News footage to acquit accused in 8-year-old’s rape-murder case

In a 432-page verdict, judge says accused behaved as if 'law of the jungle was prevalent in society', quotes Ghalib to describe 8-year-old victim.

Protesters demanding justice for the 8-year-old victim of Kathua rape-murder case | PTI

New Delhi: The perpetrators of the Kathua gang rape and murder case behaved as if the “law of the jungle was prevalent in society”, district and sessions judge Dr Tejwinder Singh has noted in his 432-page verdict in the case.

The verdict, accessed by ThePrint, shows that the judge acquitted one accused on the basis of television footage, didn’t buy the defence argument that the devasthan (temple), where the crime occurred, was regularly used and quoted Mirza Ghalib to describe the victim.

The Pathankot judge had earlier in the day sentenced three accused — Sanjhi Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar — to life in prison and handed a five-year sentence to three other accused — Anand Dutta, Tilak Raj and Surender Verma.

One of the accused, Vishal Jangotra, was acquitted.

Zee News footage saves accused

The verdict shows that Jangotra, son of Sanjhi Ram, was acquitted on the basis of footage from a news channel.

“The CD and pen drive pertaining to Zee News categorically proves the fact that Vishal Jangotra during the days of occurrence was not present in Kathua rather was present in Meeranpur, Muzaffarnagar, and was appearing for his examinations,” the judge has stated.

On this basis, the court ruled that “accused Vishal Jangotra is innocent in this trial”.

The police have named Jangotra as one of the accused to have gang-raped the victim to “satisfy his lust”.

Crime was committed in devasthan

The defence had primarily argued that the crime was not committed in the devasthan as the police had claimed, and further said that the festival of Lohri clashed with the day of the crime.

The judge, however, squarely dismissed this argument.

“This court is of the considered view that the hair strands of the victim were recovered from inside devasthan,” ruled the trial court. “This fact coupled with other evidence on record certainly leads to an inference that the victim after her kidnapping was confined indeed in the devasthan.”

The court has also stated that it was the defence that failed to produce any evidence to prove its case.

“The court questions put to the above-mentioned defence witnesses clearly show that they were unable to produce any document or photograph or video or pamphlet or donation receipt book, which could prove the fact that devasthan was regularly used as a place of worship,” the judge said.

Regarding the Lohri function, the court ruled that there was no “convincing evidence of record that could show that Lohri function was actually celebrated in the devasthan in the year 2018 when the alleged occurrence took place”.

Two cops escaped charges of illegal gratification

The trial court also let off the two Jammu and Kashmir policemen, sub-inspector Anand Dutta and head constable Tilak Raj, on the charges of them taking bribes in lakhs from the accused. They had been booked under Section 161 of the Ranbir Penal Code.

The court, though, ruled that the prosecution had failed to examine the main witness against the two policemen, Tripta Devi.

Judge Singh further noted that although there was “evidence of excess withdrawal of money from the bank account of Sanji Ram”, it was special public prosecutor S.S. Basra who “during the course of arguments very candidly conceded there is no evidence on record to connect this withdrawal with the acquisition of illegal gratification”.

The two, however, were convicted under Section 201 of the RPC for the destruction of evidence.

Judge quotes Ghalib, says victim like a bird yet to take flight

Judge Singh began his verdict with a phrase of Mirza Ghalib to describe the victim.

“Pinha tha daam-e-sakht qareeb aashiyaan ke udhne hi na paaye the ki giraftaar hum hue (Near the nest was the hidden cruel net (of a hunter), even before the fledgling could take its first flight it was caught),” the judge said of the eight-year-old victim.

He added that the kidnapping, drugging, wrongful confinement, rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl “had set the criminal law into motion” and had put the accused persons under the “sword of Damocles” for a fair trial.