Kathua gangrape-murder case | Chargesheet filed against juvenile declared adult by SC
The Hindu
The chargesheet was committed to sessions court in Kathua which has fixed January 24 as the next date of hearing in the case.
Shubam Sangra, declared an adult by the Supreme Court, is formally chargesheeted by the Jammu and Kashmir Police's crime branch in a case related to the sensational gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old in Kathua in 2018.
Though the trial is expected to start in neighbouring Punjab's Pathankot, as ordered by the Supreme Court in 2018, the crime branch submitted its charge sheet under various sections including those related to murder, rape, kidnapping and wrongful confinement before chief judicial magistrate in Kathua.
The chargesheet was committed to sessions court in Kathua which has fixed January 24 as the next date of hearing in the case.
According to the Supreme Court order of 2018, the sessions court of Pathankot will be hearing the case and the appellate court would be the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Sangra was also shifted from a Juvenile Home to the regular Kathua Jail after the crime branch served the Supreme court order of November 22 in which he was declared an adult.
The Crime Branch charge sheet detailed Sangra's alleged involvement in the horrific crime. It said Sangra was responsible for an overdose of sedatives forcibly administered to the eight-year-old, rendering her "incapacitated" to resist sexual assault on her as well as her murder.
"She was forcefully administered five tablets of Clonazepam of 0.5 mg each on January 11, 2018 which is higher than the safe therapeutic dose. Subsequently more tablets were given...The signs and symptoms of an overdose may include drowsiness, confusion, impaired coordination, slow reflexes, slowed or stopped breathing, coma (loss of consciousness) and death," a medical expert was quoted as saying in the chargesheet.
