Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: December 22,2021 at 15:21 IST
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on December 21, 2021 granted Bail to one Anand Dutta, one of the Accused in the 2018 Kathua Rape Case. The High Court Division Bench of Justices Tejinder Singh Dhindsa and Vinod Bhardwaj also ordered the suspension of the remaining of the Jail term of the convict and release of the convict.
In 2018, an 8-year-old girl, who hailed from a nomadic tribe of Bakarwal community, was gang raped by 6 men including a temple priest and other residents of the Rasana village in the premised of the village temple. The girl was held captive in a sedated mode for four days by the 6 men. The mutilated body of the girl was found on January 17, 2018 after the gruesome crime was committed.
The Order stated, “Prayer made in the instant application is accepted and the remaining sentence of the applicant/appellant- Anand Dutta is suspended during the pendency of the appeal. The applicant/appellant- Anand Dutta is ordered to be released on bail on his furnishing personal/surety bonds to the satisfaction of Chief Judicial Magistrate/Duty Magistrate concerned.”
The accused Anand Dutta was convicted under Section 201 (causing disappearance of Evidence of an offence or giving false information), Section 34 (common intention) and Section 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) of Jammu and Kashmir State Ranbir Penal Code (RPC).
The accused along with other two Tilak Raj and Surrender Verma was convicted under the aforementioned offences on June 10, 2019 and was sentenced for imprisonment for 5 years for tampering with the evidence.
The Bench noted, “There is no instance that the applicant/appellant has either misused the concession of parole so granted or that any untoward incident had taken place during the period of parole so as to corroborate the apprehension raised by the learned counsel appearing for the State of Jammu and Kashmir.”