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Saturday, April 25, 2015

Historic judgment in Tabinda Gani gangrape-cum-murder case

Death sentence awarded to all four rapists of teenage student

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
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SRINAGAR, April 24: In a significant judgment, unprecedented in the history of judiciary in Jammu and Kashmir, a trial court in Kupwara on Friday pronounced capital punishment on all the four culprits of gangrape and murder of a 14-year-old girl student, Tabinda Gani, nearly eight years after the gruesome incident occurred in northern Kashmir.

District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ibrahim Wani, who heard the last stage of the arguments and counter-arguments in the last over one year, announced death sentence to the accused Sadiq Mir and Anzar Ahmad Mir of Langet besides Jehangir Ansari of West Bengal and Suresh Kumar of Rajasthan, in a courtroom packed to capacity by lawyers, litigants, common residents and family members and relatives of the victim. He said it was among the “rarest of the rare” cases in which Supreme Court has upheld the award of capital punishment in India.
Tabinda’s father Abdul Gani Shah expressed satisfaction on pronouncement of death sentence on all four of the accused but told reporters that he and his family would feel relieved only after the culprits would be hanged to death. Members of the victim’s family were all in tears when the trial court announced the award, bringing the seven-year-long prosecution and legal battle to its logical conclusion.

Then Superintendent of Police, Handwar, Dr Haseeb Mughal, had got the FIR registered amid massive protests and pursued the investigation with exemplary dedication. All the four accused were arrested and charges against them were established and produced before court in a short time.

The trial court presided over by judges like Abdul Rashid Bhat, Mohammad Nazir Fida, Sheikh Altaf Hussain (twice), Rasheed Ali Dar and lastly Mohammad Ibrahim Wani heard the prosecution and defence for about seven years. The accused were found guilty of the charges levelled against them and the quantum of punishment was reserved twice in the last one week. It finally came out on Friday.

Residents of Handwara, Langet and other areas gathered in large numbers at the victim’s home at Batpora (Langet) to hail the judgment. They shouted slogans in favour of the judiciary and officers of Jammu and Kashmir Police who brought the rapists and killers of the teenage student to justice.

Judicial sources said that the capital punishment was subject to the affirmation by a Division Bench of Jammu and Kashmir High Court. The District Court would refer the matter to the High Court which in turn would issue notices to both, prosecution as well as the defence. Even after affirmation by the High Court, the convicts could approach Supreme Court of India and subsequently file an appeal of mercy before President of India. If rejected, they could be hanged to death but as per the convenience of the Ministry of Home Affairs of Government of India.

Even as two Kashmiris, Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru, have been executed in 1986 and 2013, (both at Delhi’s Tihar Jail), lawyers said that no convict had been hanged to death in Jammu and Kashmir in the last over 50 years. Guru was executed for a crime allegedly committed outside his home State. Bhat as well as Guru were political prisoners in the sense that both of them were active supporters and activists for J&K’s separation from the Union of India.
Cold-blooded murder

According to the residents and the prosecution witnesses, Sadiq and Anzar, who were both residents of Tabinda’s Batpora village, had planned the young girl’s rape in the fields covered with maize plants, with cobler Suresh of Rajasthan and Jehangir of West Bengal. On July 20, 2007, when she was returning to her home, she was captured and whisked away to a fully covered spot where the four youths took turns to commit on her rape. They subsequently committed her cold-blooded murder while slitting her throat and dumping the body nearby.
The rape-cum-murder of the young student sent shockwaves throughout Kashmir valley. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad directed Police to immediately start investigation and get the culprits identified and arrested. His government announced cash award of Rs 1.00 lakh for anybody who would help the Police in investigation and arrest of the culprits. A Special Investigation Team pursued the matter and challan was soon filed in a judicial court in Kupwara.

Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti were among the prominent politicians who hailed the judgment. Senior officials claimed that it could remarkably add to the “respect and credibility” of the State Police.
END

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