Have devoted my life to ensure justice for my daughter: Kathua rape victim’s father

The father of an eight-year-old girl, who was gang-raped and killed in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, said on Sunday that he has full faith in the judiciary and has devoted his life to ensure justice is done for his daughter.

The Supreme Court will hear the matter on Monday. On April 27, the Supreme Court stayed till May 7 the trial in the case, after it was seized with petitions seeking shifting of the trial from Jammu to Chandigarh and handing over the investigation into the case to the CBI.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra had said it would deal with the plea of the victim’s father for shifting of trial to Chandigarh and plea of the accused seeking handing over the probe to the CBI.

The eight-year-old girl was brutally gang-raped and murdered after abduction in a forest in Kathua district in January. The crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police, which investigated the case, had submitted a charge sheet against the eight accused, including a juvenile, last month.

“I am satisfied with police investigation and will not rest till justice is done in the case. I want the accused to be given exemplary punishment for their brutality,” the father of the victim told PTI on phone from Ramban district where he along with his family has been camping for the last few days.

Earlier, the apex court, in a stern warning, had said it would transfer the Kathua gang rape and murder case from the local court in Jammu and Kashmir in the “slightest possibility” of lack of fair trial, saying the “real concern” was to hold proper prosecution.

The eight-year-old’s father had moved the apex court, apprehending threat to the family, a friend and their lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat.

A separate plea was also filed by two accused seeking that the trial in the case be held in Jammu and the probe handed over to the CBI.