Victim’s father had approached court seeking enhancement ofsentence awarded to 6 convicts

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday issued noticeto the accused and the Jammu and Kashmir government on a petition seeking anenhancement of the sentence awarded to the convicts of rape and murder of aneight-year-old girl in Jammu's Kathua in 2018. A Bench of Justice Rajiv Sharmaand H.S. Sidhu, while issuing the notice to the respondents, fixed the case forAugust 7.

“The court has issued notice to all the accused and theState of Jammu and Kashmir in the matter,” lawyer of the victim's family UtsavBains told reporters.

The girl from the nomadic Bakerwal community was kidnappedfrom Rasana area on January 10 in 2018 and found dead on January 17.

The victim’s father had approached the High Court seeking anenhancement of the sentence awarded to six convicts. In his petition, he alsochallenged the acquittal of one accused.Last month, a special court inPathankot sentenced three of the six men to life imprisonment and awarded fiveyears in prison to the rest. One of the accused was acquitted.The victim’sfather has pleaded that it's a rarest of the rare cases and as per thestandards set by the Supreme Court.