A Sessions Court in north Kashmir's Kupwara district awarded death sentence to four convicts in the gangrape and murder case of a 13-year-old student, eight years after the crime had shaken place in a remote hamlet. The District and Sessions judge Kupwara Mohammad Ibrahim Wani confirmed the sentence of Sadiq Mir,
Anzar Ahmad — both residents of langate — and two other non-locals Jahangir Ansari of West Bengal and Suresh Kumar of Rajasthan, saying the offence committed by them falls in the rarest of rare category. "Death reference is accepted. Death sentence awarded by the trial court is affirmed. The appeals of the convicts are dismissed," the judge said.
The Jammu & Kashmir Government every year awards brave girls after the name of rape and murder victim Tabinda Ghani but the lackadaisical prosecution was under public flak. The parents of the victim were present in the court at the time of pronouncement of the verdict. "We have full faith in the judiciary. We had expected this verdict. But the ultimate satisfaction will be when the convicts meet their ultimate fate," father of victim told the media outside the court room after the verdict was delivered. The victim was raped and murdered by the convicts in 2007 when she was returning home from school through forlorn orchards in langate pocket of north Kashmir.