Pathankot / New Delhi : A sessions court in Pathankot will hear arguments on Monday on framing of charges against Shubham Sangra, the prime accused in the rape and murder of a minor girl in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua in 2018. The trial was transferred from Kathua in the Jammu region to Pathankot in Punjab following a Supreme Court directive. Earlier, the Supreme Court had declared in 2022 that Sangra was not a juvenile at the time of the crime and should be tried as an adult.
The Supreme Court set aside the order of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court
The Supreme Court had quashed the March 27, 2018 order of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, which said that Shubham Sangra would be treated as a juvenile accused. Subsequently, the Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police filed a charge sheet against Shubham Sangra in the Kathua court. Earlier the chargesheet was filed before the Juvenile Justice Board. Shubham Sangra has been charged in the chargesheet under sections 302 (murder) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, besides kidnapping and illegal confinement.
Charges will be fixed on June 26
According to media reports, during the last hearing of the matter on June 17, Sessions Judge Jatinder Pal Singh Khurmi, in his one-page order, said that all the original records have been received by the court and now, the point of framing of charges is under consideration. The matter is adjourned till June 26, 2023. Shubham Sangra has been shifted from Kathua jail to Pathankot sub-district jail.
The crime was executed on January 10, 2018
Let us inform that on January 10, 2018, a minor girl was abducted, held hostage and raped and later murdered. The brutality of this case had shaken the country. Eight people including Shubham Sangra were made accused in the case. The case against the seven accused was shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir to Pathankot on May 7, 2018, on the orders of the Supreme Court.
People’s anger erupted against Kathua rape, rail stopped, 15 pairs of special trains canceled
Three accused sentenced to life imprisonment
The special court on June 10, 2019 sentenced the three accused, the caretaker of the ‘Devasthanam’ (temple, where the crime took place) Sanji Ram and the main conspirator, Deepak Khajuria, and Special Police Officer (SPO) Deepak Khajuria, besides Parvesh Kumar, to life imprisonment. At the same time, three other accused police sub-inspector Anand Dutt, head constable Tilak Raj and SPO Surendra Verma were convicted of destruction of evidence and sentenced to five years in jail and a fine of Rs 50,000 each. He is out on parole. Vishal Jangotra, the seventh accused and son of Sanji Ram, has been acquitted.
