india

Updated: Jun 10, 2019 23:50 IST

The father of the eight-year-old girl raped and killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua said that he expected the guilty would be sent to the gallows .

“We were expecting a death sentence. None was sent to the gallows. We are sad because of the fact that our little daughter was drugged, tortured and gang-raped for days together before being brutally killed,’’ the father said after a court in Pathankot jailed three of the accused for life on Monday over the rape and murder .

“She was my sister’s daughter. My wife and I had adopted her.”

He said the guilty should have been hanged to set an example for society.

The father said he failed to understand the reason for the acquittal of one of the eight accused, Vishal Jangotra. “No doubt he was studying in Meerut but he was there in [Kathua]’s Rasana after my child was abducted. I am not satisfied,” he said.

He added his wife is also sad that the killers of their daughter would not be hanged. He said he has land and a house in Rasana but they are fearful of returning. “But I fear going back because if they could brutally rape and kill my daughter, then they could do anything to me and my family,” said the father, who now lives with his family in Kishtwar over 200 km away.

He hopes to sell his land and house because he does not wish to return. “Our return to Rasana is next to impossible because our trust has been shattered badly,” he said.

“We had no enmity with anyone in the village. We fail to understand why our daughter was raped and killed. She was just eight.”

The girl’s biological father, who lives in Anantnag district along with his family, said his brother-in-law and sister-in-law are shattered.

“Though the verdict has been announced but our child will not come back.”