HC reduces death penalty to life imprisonment of…

Srinagar, Oct 18: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has reduced the death sentence to life imprisonment without remission for a minimum of 25 years to four convicts for the gruesome rape and murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl in north Kashmir’s Handwara area in 2007.In 2015, Principal Sessions Court Kupwara sentenced to death four persons, Muhammad Sadiq Mir alias Sada of Langate Kupwara, Jehangir Ansari of Nawada Jungoo area of West Bengal, Azhar Ahmad Mir alias Billa of Shatapora Langate, and Suresh Kumar Sasi alias Mouchi of Rajasthan, at present Amritsar Punjab after they were found guilty for abduction, rape, and murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl.The trial court had called the offence “the rarest of rare” and observed that the convicts were a menace to society and to “conceal their evil deed, they had committed a drastic and extreme brutal act which has resulted in depriving the life of a minor who was helpless and innocent”.The four convicts had challenged the trial court’s judgment dated April 18, 2015, in an appeal before the High Court through Advocate Ateeb Kanth.