DLSA Kathua disburses Rs 12.5 Lakh to Rasana victim’s father

JAMMU: The District Legal Services Authority Kathua on Thursday disbursed Rs 12.50 lakh to father of victim of Rasana rape-and-murder case.

The said compensation was awarded against some prominent media houses who disclosed the identity of minor victim girl by the Delhi High Court, which had directed the same to be given to the father of the victim.

“On Thursday, Sanjeev Gupta, the Chairman, DLSA, Kathua today disbursed Rs 12.50 lakh to father of the victim as per direction of the Delhi High Court,” an official spokesman informed.

The aforesaid amount of compensation was awarded against some prominent media houses by Justice Geeta Mittal, currently the Chief Justice, High Court of Jammu & Kashmir, back when she was the Chief Justice (Acting) of High Court of Delhi, for disclosing the identity of the victim of the crime in the above mentioned case in the media.

The case rocked the entire country, when a 8-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped from Kathua's Rasana village in January this month while she was grazing horses.

For a week, she was allegedly drugged, starved and gangraped before her head was bashed in with a stone, as per the chargesheet filed in the case by the Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police.

The chargesheet has named eight persons as accused, including a couple of policemen and a juvenile.

In the month of May, the Supreme Court shifted that the trial in the case will be held in Punjab's Pathankot, but according to the provisions of Ranbir Penal Code, which is applicable in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ordering that the trial be fast-tracked, the Supreme Court said proceedings will be held every day and there will be no adjournment.

The trial will be closed to the press and the public, the top court said in its order.