india

Updated: Jun 12, 2019 00:10 IST

The family of one of the accused acquitted in the rape and the murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua has said they were planning to file a malicious prosecution suit over his “false implication”.

A court in Punjab’s Pathankot on Monday acquitted Vishal Jangotra and sentenced three others including his father, Sanji Ram, to life imprisonment for raping and murdering the girl in January 2018.

Three policemen, Surinder Kumar, Tilak Raj, and Anand Dutta, were sent to jail for five years for destruction of evidence in the case.

Jangotra’s sister, Madhu Sharma, said they would immediately move the Punjab and Haryana High Court to challenge her father’s conviction. “But they [Jammu and Kashmir police’s crime branch] will also have to pay for falsely implicating my brother. We will definitely move court for justice to Vishal. The Pathankot court has acquitted him of all the charges and we would not allow the crime branch [which probed the rape and murder] go scot-free.”

Sharma said her brother was is in a state of shock but they will “leave no stone unturned” to seek justice for him.

“Crime Branch tried to make him a scapegoat.”

Jangotra’s lawyer, Vikrant Mahajan, said they will definitely file a malicious prosecution suit in Kathua. “He has just been released and it will take some time for him to get back to normal life. He has spent over a year in prison. He has to file the suit and seek damages.”