Kathua rape case cop convicts to move HC, say evidence was tampered with, not destroyed

The three policemen — SPO Surender Kumar, SI Anand Dutta and head constable Tilak Raj — have been sentenced to 5 years for destroying evidence.

File photo of the three convicts in the Kathua rape case, from left, SI Anand Dutta, Surender Verma and Constable Tilak Raj | PTI

New Delhi: The three policemen, sentenced to five years for destruction of evidence in the Kathua gang rape and murder case, are set to appeal the lower court verdict in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 18 June.

The lawyers for the three — special police officer (SPO) Surender Kumar, sub-inspector Anand Dutta and head constable Tilak Raj — are set to argue that there is a “difference between tampering of evidence and destruction of evidence”.

The three were among the six pronounced guilty in the case by a local court in Pathankot on 12 June. The other three accused — local leader Sanjhi Ram, special police officer Deepak Khajuria and a friend of Ram’s nephew Parvesh Kumar — have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old Bakerwal girl.

Advocate A.K. Sawhney, appearing for three policemen, told ThePrint that their conviction under Section 201 of the Ranbir Penal Code for destruction of evidence was not legally right.

“We are saying that Section 201 is not made out. There was nothing to be destroyed,” Sawhney said. “It is about removing one word from a sentence by white fluid etc and that is only tampering. Destroying is burning the entire document.

“In this case, were the clothes of the eight-year-old girl destroyed or burnt? No,” he said. “They claim that it was washed. The prosecution said the evidence was destroyed but they have never submitted that anything was destroyed by these three police personnel.”

ThePrint had earlier reported that a forensic team in Delhi had found a spot of blood in the girl’s washed clothes, which helped police match it with the DNA of the accused.

Sawhney further said that the appeals on behalf of the life-term convicts would also be filed in June.

Lawyer to rely on police challan

Sawhney said his team will point to ‘anomalies’ in the challan filed by the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s crime branch.

“In the challan, they stated that the police personnel had committed the crime but the judge rejected 60 per cent of the challan by stating that police were involved only in the ‘destruction of evidence’,” the lawyer said. “Another 30 per cent will collapse when it’s proven that Parvesh Kumar (life-term convict) is a juvenile.”

The verdict by Dr Tejwinder Singh came after almost a year after the trial was moved to Pathankot in Punjab on the orders of the Supreme Court. It was the result of 275 days of the intense hearing, which saw over 128 witnesses examined by the prosecution and defence.