SRINAGAR: Aseem Sawhney, a lawyer appearing on behalf of the prime accused in the rape and murder case of 8-year-old girl in Kathua was appointed as additional advocate general of Jammu and Kashmir government.
According to India Express report, Sawhney, who is pleading the case of some of the accused at the Patahankot court in Punjab figured at serial number 7 in the list of additional advocates general, deputy advocates general and government advocates, issued by the law department.
The Crime Branch arrested eight people, including four policemen after the shocking rape-and-murder that triggered widespread outrage across the country.
ALSO READ: Kathua rape victim may have slipped into “coma” due to overdose of sedatives: Forensic Experts
The seven accused are 60-year-old Sanji Ram, Special Police Officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma, Sub-Inspector Anand Dutta, Head Constable Tilak Raj, civilian Parvesh Kumar and Sanji’s minor son Vishala.
Another accused, who claimed to be a juvenile, will be tried as an adult after District and Sessions Judge Tajwinder Singh had issued directions to the Crime Branch to conduct a bone ossification test to ascertain the age of one of the eight accused in the case.
The body of the minor belonging to a nomadic Muslim tribe Bakherwal was recovered from Rassana forest in Kathua district on January 17, a week after she went missing while grazing horses in the forest area.
She was abducted, drugged, gang-raped, tortured and later killed.