Shubham Sangra, the main accused in the 2018 Kathua minor rape-murder case, has withdrawn his revision plea seeking bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The case continues as courts proceed with framing charges in one of India’s most shocking crimes.
In a major development in the Kathua rape and murder case, Shubham Sangra, who is the main accused in the brutal 2018 crime against a minor nomad girl, has withdrawn his revision petition seeking bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Sangra had challenged an earlier order of the High Court which had refused to grant him bail in this extremely serious and sensitive case that had shocked the entire country.
The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was strongly represented by Senior Additional Advocate General Monika Kohli, who has recently been appointed along with three other senior legal professionals to handle all court proceedings related to the rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl.
As the case was listed for hearing, Sangra chose to step back and withdrew his plea, meaning the previous denial of bail will continue to stand.
The trial of this case was earlier shifted from Kathua to Pathankot in Punjab following clear directions from the Supreme Court, to ensure fair proceedings and avoid any local influence.
In a separate and important order passed in 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that Sangra was not a juvenile at the time of the crime and must be tried as an adult. This decision cancelled the earlier Jammu and Kashmir High Court order of March 27, 2018, which had declared him a juvenile.
At present, the sessions court in Pathankot is hearing arguments on the framing of charges against Sangra.
With the appointment of Monika Kohli and other senior lawyers, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has clearly shown its strong intent to fight the case seriously and ensure strict legal action against all those involved.
Along with Kohli, the government has appointed Additional Advocate Generals Rahul Dev Singh and Raman Sharma, as well as special counsel Arkaj Kumar, to pursue the case diligently.
Kohli, who enrolled as an advocate in April 1999 in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, has vast experience and has handled many sensitive cases, including those related to terrorism. She has also been standing counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the J&K High Court.
The Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police had filed a detailed chargesheet against Sangra, accusing him of kidnapping, wrongful confinement, rape and murder. After being declared an adult, he was shifted from Kathua jail to a sub-district prison in Pathankot.
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The minor girl was kidnapped on January 10, 2018, and was kept in captivity where she was sexually assaulted and later beaten to death. This horrifying incident caused nationwide outrage. A total of eight people were named as accused in the case.
The case against seven of the accused was earlier transferred out of Jammu and Kashmir to Pathankot by the Supreme Court on May 7, 2018.
In June 2019, a special court sentenced three accused – Sanji Ram, who was the mastermind and caretaker of the temple where the crime occurred, special police officer Deepak Khajuria, and civilian Parvesh Kumar – to life imprisonment “till last breath”.
Three other accused – sub-inspector Anand Dutta, head constable Tilak Raj and special police officer Surender Verma – were convicted for destroying evidence to cover up the crime and were sentenced to five years in jail along with a fine of Rs 50,000 each.
They are currently out on parole. The seventh accused, Vishal Jangotra, son of Sanji Ram, was acquitted by the court.
The chargesheet also explained Sangra’s specific role in the crime, stating that he was responsible for forcibly administering sedatives to the minor girl, leaving her “incapacitated” and unable to resist the sexual assault and murder. The medical expert’s statement was clearly mentioned in the chargesheet and said:
“She was forcibly administered five tablets of Clonazepam of 0.5 mg each on January 11, 2018 which is higher than the safe therapeutic dose. “Subsequently, more tablets were given…the signs and symptoms of an overdose may include drowsiness, confusion, impaired coordination, slow reflexes, slowed or stopped breathing, coma (loss of consciousness) and death,”
a medical expert was quoted as saying in the chargesheet.
The attempt to show Sangra as a juvenile was exposed after a poorly drafted application for a birth certificate came under scrutiny.
The inconsistencies and false information submitted by his father were key in revealing the alleged plot to misrepresent his age, which ultimately led to the Supreme Court ruling that he must be tried as an adult.
Apart from the Kathua case, Monika Kohli is also the chief prosecutor in two major cases against JKLF chief Yasin Malik, including the 1989 abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed and the 1990 killing of four Indian Air Force personnel. She has been representing the CBI since 2015 and successfully opposed Malik’s bail pleas in these high-profile matters.
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Over the last two decades, Kohli has handled several important cases across the Supreme Court, High Courts of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana, Delhi, and various consumer protection tribunals.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was also appointed as amicus curiae by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, further highlighting her standing in the legal field.
This latest step by Shubham Sangra to withdraw his bail plea once again underlines the seriousness of the case and signals that the legal battle will continue as the court moves forward with framing of charges and trial proceedings in one of the most disturbing criminal cases in recent Indian legal history.
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