Kathua rape and murder case verdict LIVE updates: After the quantum of sentence was pronounced, Farooqi Khan, lawyer of victim's father told India Today, 'We are little disappointed. We had demanded capital punishment for the accused... We're planning for that (challenging the verdict).'
Kathua rape and murder case verdict LATEST updates: After the quantum of sentence was pronounced, Farooqi Khan, lawyer of victim's father told India Today, "We are little disappointed. We had demanded capital punishment for the accused... We're planning for that (challenging the verdict)."
Reacting to the quantum of punishment in the Kathur rape and murder case, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said that she was expecting capital punishment for the convicts. She tweeted that the Jammu and Kashmir government should approach higher court in the matter.
Deepak Khajuria, Sanji Ram and another accused have been given life imprisonment of 25 years in the Kathua rape and murder case.
The quantum of punishment is likely to be pronounced at 4 pm, reports said. National Commission for Women's Rekha Sharma called for capital punishment for the perpetrators who were found guilty by the Pathankot court on Monday.
One of the prosecution lawyers, Mubeen Farooq, also said that they would pursue capital punishment for the guilty.
Soon after the verdict was declared by the Pathankot court in the Kathua case on Monday, reports said that the quantum of punishment for the six convicts will also be declared by the court at 2 pm on Monday.
The victim's family's former defence lawyer Deepika Rajawat was jubilant about the Pathankot court's conviction of the six accused in the case. She was quoted by CNN-News18 as saying, "It’s a big day and a victory for all of us. We must salute the crime branch for conducting the investigations in a professional manner."
PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, who was the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir at the time of the rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl in Kathua, welcomed the conviction of the accused on Monday. The case was a bone of contention between the PDP and BJP, who were part of a coalition government at the time.
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah lauded the conviction of six of the accused in the Kathua rape and murder case. He said that the guilty people should receive the "most severe" punishment.
Six accused, including three cops, held guilty in Kathua rape and murder case. Son of main accused Sanjhi Ram has been given benefit of doubt in the case. Trial of a juvenile will be held separately. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced lat 2 pm on Monday.
Six out of the seven accused have been convicted under three Sections of the IPC, while the juvenile Vishal has been acquitted of all charges. Reports also said that the quantum of punishment will be pronounced at 2 pm on Monday.
Several reports have said that five out of seven accused have been convicted the Pathankot special court judge. CNN-News18 also reported that the main accused, Sanjhi Ram, and Tilak Dutta have been convicted. However, the judgment is still being read out.
The seven out of eight accused have been summoned inside the courtroom in the Pathankot court according to protocol of the In-camera trial. Anti-riot vehicles have also been deployed outside the court.
Seven out of eight accused — eighth is a juvenile — have been brought to the Pathankot court ahead of the hearing.
Ankur Sharma, the defence lawyer for the accused, who visited the special court at Pathankot ahead of the trial expressed confidence that the seven accused will get acquitted in the Kathua rape and murder case. He also said that most of the prosecution's eyewitnesses had turned hostile during the trial.
The Punjab Police are not allowing anyone to enter the court complex in Pathankot without verification, ahead of the hearing in the controversial case of rape and murder of a minor in Kathua last year will start soon.
Ahead of the verdict in the Kathua rape and murder case, which is likely to be pronounced on Monday at 10 am, special security arrangements were put in place around the special court in Punjab's Pathankot, and also in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.
The verdict in the case of rape and murder of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir will be delivered by a special court on Monday.
The in-camera trial in the case that shook the nation ended on 3 June, when district and sessions judge Tejwinder Singh had announced that the verdict was likely to be delivered on 10 June.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made in and around the court and in Kathua in view of the pronouncement of the judgement, officials said Sunday. The situation will be monitored closely, they said.
According to the 15-page charge sheet, the eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped on 10 January last year, was allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district after having been kept sedated for four days before she was bludgeoned to death.

Security deployed outside the Pathankot court on Monday. 101 reporters
The day-to-day trial commenced in the first week of June last year at the district and sessions court in Pathankot in neighbouring state of Punjab, about 100 kilometres from Jammu and 30 kilometres from Kathua, after the Supreme Court ordered that the case be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir.
The apex court order came after lawyers in Kathua prevented Crime Branch officials from filing a charge sheet in the sensational case, which shocked the nation.
The prosecution team in the case comprised JK Chopra, SS Basra and Harminder Singh.
The Crime Branch arrested village head Sanji Ram, his son Vishal, juvenile nephew and his friend Anand Dutta, and two special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma. Head constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Sanji Ram and destroyed crucial evidence, were also arrested.
Charges of rape and murder were framed by the district and sessions judge against seven out of the eight accused. The trial against the juvenile is yet to begin as his petition on determining his age is to be heard by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
The court framed charges under the Ranbir Penal Code(RPC), including Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 376-D (gang-rape), according to the prosecution.
The accused, if convicted, face minimum life imprisonment and maximum death penalty.
The court also framed charges of destruction of evidence and causing hurt by poisoning under Section 328 of the RPC. The two policemen — Raj and Datta — were also charged under Section 161 (public servant taking illegal gratification) of the RPC.
All the accused, barring the juvenile, were shifted to Gurdaspur jail following an intervention by the Supreme Court which also restricted appearance of the defence lawyers and limited it to one or maximum of two per accused.
The chargesheet said the girl had gone missing while grazing horses. Investigators said the accused juvenile had abducted the girl under the pretext of helping her find her horses. The abduction, rape and killing of the child was part of a carefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area, it said.
The case had become a bone of contention between the then ruling alliance partners PDP and the BJP after two ministers of the saffron party, Chowdhury Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, participated in a rally organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch in support of the accused arrested by the state crime branch.