A session’s court in Punjab’s Pathankot will hear arguments on Monday on framing of charges against Shubam Sangra, prime accused in the 2018 rape and murder case of a minor nomad girl in Kathua of Jammu and Kashmir.

As per reports, the trial was transferred from Kathua in the Jammu region to Pathankot following the direction of the Supreme Court.

Prior to that, the top court in 2022 declared that Sangra was not a juvenile at the time of the offence and should be tried as an adult.

The apex court set aside the Jammu and Kashmir High Court's order of March 27, 2018 that had ruled that Sangra be treated as a juvenile.

The Kathua Rape Case involved the abduction, gang rape, and murder of an 8-year-old Muslim girl, Asifa Bano. The victim was brutally raped by six Hindu men and a juvenile, in January 2018 in the Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, India.

The victim belonged to the nomadic Bakarwal community and was targeted to drive them out of the area. The case sparked widespread outrage and protests across India and worldwide.