Kathua rape case

The Kathua rape case refers to the abduction, rape, and murder of an 8-year-old girl, Asifa Bano, in Rasana village near Kathua in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in January 2018.</strong> A chargesheet for the case has been filed, the accused have been arrested and the trial began in Kathua on 16 April 2018. The victim belonged to the nomad Bakarwal community. She disappeared for a week before her dead body was discovered by the villagers a kilometer away from the village. The incident made national news when charges were filed against eight men in April 2018.
The arrests of the accused led to protests by the Panthers Party, along with other local groups. One of the protests, in support of independent CBI probe, was attended by two ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party, both of whom have now resigned. The rape and murder, as well as the support the accused received, sparked widespread outrage.

Complaint word chargesheet filed by a Senior Superintendent of Police of Jammu, states that on 12 January 2018, Mohammad Yusuf lodged a complaint in Hiranagar police station stating that his daughter had gone missing. His complaint said that his daughter, aged 8, had gone to watch over grazing horses 30 minutes past noon on 10 January 2018. She was seen at 2 PM, but when the horses returned at 4 PM, she was no longer with them.

After searching for her and being unable to find her, her father registered a First Information Report (FIR) with the police. Discovery and arrests On 17 January 2018, the dead body of the victim was found and taken into custody by the police to allow an autopsy to be conducted. The postmortem was conducted by a team of doctors at the District Hospital in Kathua at 2:30 PM on the same day. On 22 January 2018, the investigation of the case was transferred to Crime Branch and Crime Headquarters, Jammu and Kashmir.A statement released by the police listed seven individuals who had been arrested and charged over the crime, including four police officers.A total of eight people, including four police officers, have been arrested so far.Two of the police officers were arrested on suspicion of attempting to destroy evidence, and also stand accused of accepting money to cover up the incident. One of the accused claimed to be 15 years old, though a medical examination later suggested he was 19. Sanji Ram, one of the accused, was described by the police as having devised the plan of kidnap and murder. The chargesheet against the seven adults accused of the crime was filed on 9 April.

The accused were charged under Sections 302, 376, 201 and 120-B of the Ranbir Penal Code. A chargesheet against the remaining individual was under preparation. Forensic evidence The post-mortem revealed the presence of clonazepam in the body of the dead girl.The examination by the doctors found that the girl had been drugged with a sedative before she was raped and murdered. Forensic evidence suggested that she had been held for several days by Sanji Ram, one of the individuals accused of the crime. Strands of hair recovered from the temple matched those taken from the girl. The forensic examination stated that Bano had been raped multiple times by different men, and that she had been strangled to death, as well as hit in the head with a heavy stone.

Delhi Forensic Science Laboratory analyzed 14 packets of evidence containing vaginal swabs, hair strands, blood samples of four accused, viscera of the deceased girl, the girl’s frock and salwar, simple clay, and blood stained clay. Vaginal swabs matched with the DNA of the accused as did some other samples. Hair strands found in the temple where Asifa was raped matched that of the girl and the accused. The accused Sanji Ram was found to be the main accused in the case. He is the priest of the family temple ('devasthan') where the incident took place (alleged). The 'devastan' is a public worshiping place and the hindu community of the village prays 3 times a day in that temple according to local people.His son Vishal and his nephew, a juvenile were also accused in the case. The others who have been accused are Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar, who are police officers; Tilak Raj, a head constable and Arvind Dutta, a sub Inspector.

The police contested the claim that the nephew is a juvenile.Vishal Jangotra claimed to be in Meerut attending an exam. However, according to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), his signature does not match the signature on the exam attendance sheet.

Trial The trial for the Kathua murder and rape case began in Jammu and Kashmir on 16 April 2018 before the Principal Sessions Court judge, Kathua.The second hearing was scheduled for 28 April 2018. The Supreme Court sought a response from the Jammu and Kashmir government regarding shifting the trial to Chandigarh by 27 April 2018. A demand by Bhim Singh, leader of the Panthers Party, for an independent inquiry by the CBI was heard and denied by the Supreme Court of India. On 7 May 2018, the Supreme Court of India shifted the case from Jammu and Kashmir to Pathankot. The Supreme Court instructed the trial to be fast-tracked. The trial was closed to the public and press according to orders from the Supreme Court. The trial also was being held in-camera as per instructions from the Supreme Court.

The trial was being held under the Ranbir Penal Code, according to laws in Jammu and Kashmir. On 14 November 2018, the family of the rape victim decided to drop their lawyer Deepika Rajawat. The application to remove the power of attorney was filed before the trial court in Pathankot, where the girl’s father said Rajawat won’t be representing them in the case anymore stating her security concerns and general lack of interest in the case. Over 100 hearings have taken place so far, but Deepika Rajawat was only present twice.

Ayesha Meera Rape Case
ayesha Meera rape case was a rape case in the Vijayawada, India which captured the intense media attention in the country in 2007 The Incident a 19-year-old Pharmacy student named Ayesha Meera was raped and murdered brutally in a hostel in Vijayawada. Her body with stab injuries was found in the bathroom on 27 December 2007. A letter dropped by the 'murderer' stated that the girl was raped and murdered for refusing his request for 'love'. Skepticism of police claims Relatives of P. Satyam Babu and Human Rights activists alleged that the police was trying to eliminate him in an effort to shield the real culprits in the case. They pointed out that Babu can't even walk as he suffered from a neurological disorder. The doctors at Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) confirmed that he could hardly walk. Even the victim's parents also rejected the police claim that Babu murdered her and alleged that police were trying to save some politically influential people. Arrest, escape and re-arrest of the accused[edit] P. Satyam Babu was first arrested in August 2008.[3] However, he exhibited his agility soon after his arrest by escaping from police custody at Suryapet in Nalgonda district in the middle of the arrest night when the policemen escorting him got down at a hotel for food. Police were taking the accused to Vijayawada after treatment at a hospital in Hyderabad.The Vijayawada Police suspended 11 policemen, including a sub-inspector, two head constables and eight constables, who were escorting the accused on the charges of negligence.However, despite this effort to escape, Babu was arrested in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh within hours of the event.

Judicial judgement
The Vijayawada women's special sessions court awarded 14 years jail to P. Satyam Babu in the case under section 302 of IPC for murder and 10 years of rigorous imprisonment under section 376 of IPC for rape.The court ruled that both the jail terms would run concurrently. In addition, the court ordered Satyam Babu to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 or undergo six months jail. In a landmark judgment on 31 March 2017, the Hyderabad High Court not only acquitted the accused in the murder case but also awarded him Rs 80 lakhs compensation for putting him in jail for eight years. The court in its judgment reprimanded the police for putting the accused in jail for eight years. The court said it was inhuman on the part of the police and ordered action against the officials responsible for Satyam Babu's arrest and confinement.

High Court of Andhra Pradesh in its Judgement on 29 November 2018 ed by Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice S V Bhatt directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate the case afresh and directed the Andhra Pradesh Police to hand over the case to Central Bureau of Investigation. The Courst observed that a High Court administered probe by a SIT unearthed the fact that even before the appeal of acquitted Satyam Babu was pending there has been destruction of records in the Trial Court. evidences and findings The autopsy report of doctors informs that, Ayesha's body has stab injuries and she has been raped and then murdered.Semen traces were extracted from her body and many bite marks and scratch marks were identified throughout her body.