New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ordered further trial of Shubham Sangra, accused in the sensational gang-rape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in 2018, by the Court of Principal District & Sessions Judge, Pathankot, Punjab.
On November 16 last year, Sangra was declared an adult by the Supreme Court after being initially treated as a juvenile.
“We direct that further trial of respondent-accused in Case No. 01/2023 arising out of case FIR No. 10/2018 of P.S. Hiranagar, pending before the Court of Sessions Judge, Kathua be tried by the Court of Principal District & Sessions Judge, Pathankot, Punjab,” a bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Bela M. Trivedi ordered.
The Top Court on November 16 last year had held Shubham was not a juvenile and ordered that he be tried afresh as an adult for the offences.
The Apex court had also held that medical opinion regarding the age of an accused cannot be “brushed aside” in the absence of statutory proof on the same issue.
It had set aside the orders of the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Kathua and the High Court which had held that the accused Sangra was a juvenile and hence to be tried separately.
The eight-year-old girl child belonging to the nomadic Bakerwal community was found dead after being raped on 17 January 2018. The trial was transferred to Pathankot by the Supreme Court in view of sensitivity of the case.
The trial court in Pathankot had convicted 6 out of the 7 accused in the case and acquitted one, giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Sangra was being tried before JJB when the Supreme Court had stayed those proceedings in February 2020 after J&K moved the present plea.
The Crime Branch had filed a complaint (a charge sheet in case of juvenile) when he was lodged at the correctional home in Kathua as per the laid down norms under the law.
Sangra, who had been filing petitions at various courts, finally got caught when a shoddily drafted application for a birth certificate led to the unravelling of the conspiracy to proclaim him as a juvenile.
With Sangra being tried in the gang rape-murder, the quest for justice for the child who was smothered to death in captivity in January 2018 takes a decisive turn.
The inconsistencies in dates and false information in the application for a birth registration certificate filed by Sangra’s father on April 15, 2004 were crucial in nailing the lie.
According to the charge sheet in the case filed by the Jammu and Kashmir Crime Branch, Sangra was instrumental in the abduction, gang rape and killing of the child. Eight people, including Sangra, were accused in the case that shook the nation with its details of brutality.
The affidavit filed in the court cited the inconsistencies in the application to buttress its claim that Sangra was a juvenile. This was submitted in court along with medical reasons by the Crime Branch, which was contesting the trial court’s decision to treat Sangra as a minor.

KR Desk