Six Indians escape death sentence for rape, murder of Muslim girl

PATHANKOT: Six men were convicted on Monday over the notorious 2018 gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl from a Muslim nomadic tribe that provoked horror and stoked inter-religious tensions.

The six men from the occupied Jammu region escaped the death sentence, however, with three defendants given life imprisonment and the others five years in jail. Sexual violence, including against children, is rife in India and outrage over the Kathua case, named after the district where the atrocity happened, contributed to the government introducing the death penalty for child rapists.

According to the charge sheet, the girl was abducted while she was out grazing horses and taken to a village in occupied Jammu, the Hindu-dominated part of the Muslim-majority state of occupied Jammu and Kashmir, on January 10 last year.

In an ordeal lasting five days, she was sedated and held in a Hindu temple, repeatedly raped and then strangled and bludgeoned to death. Investigations suggested that the girl was targeted in order to strike fear in her nomad community and drive them out of the area.

On Monday a seventh man was acquitted while an eighth person, who claims to be underage, faces a separate trial. Among the three convicted for rape and murder and sentenced to life were village head Sanjhi Ram and special police officer Deepak Khajuria. The others were found guilty of taking bribes and destroying evidence.