Kathua gang rape accused plead not guilty, ask for narco tests

The trial in the gang-rape and murder case against eight accused men who allegedly drugged, tortured and gang-raped an 8-year-old girl in a village temple in Kathua for a week, began today.

The accused pleaded not guilty and asked the district and sessions judge for a narco test.

The counsel for the accused said that the court had directed that all the accused be provided with copies of the chargesheet and that the defence was ready for the narco tests.

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District and Sessions Judge Sanjay Gupta asked the state Crime Branch to give copies of the chargesheet to the accused and fixed April 28 as the next date of hearing.

"Everything will be clear after the Narco test," one of the accused said after the hearing at the district court.

While seven accused were presented before the district and sessions judge, the eighth is a juvenile who moved a bail application before a judicial magistrate. The application will be heard later today.

The family of the victim has, meanwhile, filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking for security and for the case to be transferred outside Kathua. The top court will hear the case at 2:00 pm.

Two police complaints have been filed in the case, one against the eight people allegedly accused of gang-raping the girl and the other against a group of lawyers who had allegedly stopped the police from filing chargesheet against the eight accused.

According to the charge sheets filed by the crime branch, the abduction, rape and killing of the Bakerwal girl was part of a carefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area.

It lists the caretaker of 'Devisthan', a small temple, in a village in Kathua, about 90 km from here, as the main conspirator behind the crime.

Sanji Ram was allegedly joined by special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma, friend Parvesh Kumar alias Mannu, Ram's nephew, a juvenile, and his son Vishal Jangotra alias "Shamma".

The charge sheet also names investigating officers head constable Tilak Raj and Sub-Inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Ram and destroyed crucial evidence.

All eight are under arrest.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has reportedly appointed two special public prosecutors, both Sikhs, for the trial in the sensitive case. The move is being seen as an effort to ensure there is "neutrality" in view of the possibility of Hindu-Muslim polarisation over the case.

Two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers leaders, Chandra Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh, have also resigned following accusations that they attended a rally in support of the miscreants responsible for the crime.

The alleged gangrape and murder of the girl, who belonged to nomadic Muslim community, took place in the Kathua district in January. After being missing for a week, her body was found on January 17.

Details of the rape-murder revealed in the charge sheet triggered public and political outrage and exposed cracks in the state's ruling coalition.

(With inputs from agencies)