People of Himachal Pradesh and Gudiya's parents are not accepting the decision taken by the court. Once again there is an uproar on social media related to Gudiya rape and murder case. A local court found Anil alias Nilu guilty in the four-year-old Gudiya rape and murder case and sentenced him to life imprisonment on Friday. The Court had held Kumar, a Chirani (woodcutter), guilty of rape and murder of a minor girl and convicted him under sections 376 (2)(i), 376 (A), and 302 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of the POCSO Act.

District and Sessions Judge, Shimla, Rajiv Bharadwaj, who is also Special Judge of CBI Court said that out of the 14 crucial points of evidence produced by the CBI, 12 were found to be against Nilu. The conviction was based on the fact that DNA from a blood sample of Nilu matched with the semen on the private parts and clothes of the victim and soil samples from clothes matched with the soil samples taken from the spot where the body of the deceased was found. The bite marks on the body of the deceased were also found to be of Nilu's in forensic investigations.

At the same time, Gudiya's parents are unhappy with this decision of the court. Both of them questioned the CBI probe saying it would be impossible for Chirani Neelu to do such cruality alone. Gudiya's parents have alleged that the real culprits are still roaming free and they are not even satisfied by the punishment. Gudiya's parents said that their daughter has not got justice even after four years. After the CBI investigation started, they were confident that justice would be done now. The culprits will be caught, but the CBI has also broken their trust. Gudiya's mother said, "Now we will take the matter to the High Court. We will keep on fighting the legal battle until our daughter gets justice". 

There were 59 witnesses, including students, teachers of the school where Gudiya was studying, villagers, doctors, forensic experts, police and eyewitnesses who saw the accused in the area before and after the crime was committed. The judge observed that the crime was committed in a spur of the moment, with Nilu making up his mind to rape and kill the victim when he encountered her on a passage in the forest while she was returning home from school.

As per the CBI charge sheet, the accused spotted Gudiya, about 1.5 km from Dandi on the mud path on Dandi-Bankufar road in Kotkhai on July 4, 2017. He had an altercation with the victim after she spat on him following which he caught hold of her and dragged her down in the forest. He then raped and strangulated her and dumped her body in a ditch, about 32 metres away from the road.

Two days later on July 6, her body was found in the nearby forest in Haliailla in the Kotkhai area of Shimla district. On July 7 Postmortem reports confirmed rape and murder. On July 10 the special investigation team was constituted in the case and on July 13, 2017 a special investigation team of the state police led by IG Zahur H Zaidi arrested six men residing in the area on charges of raping and killing of the minor. On July 19 one of the suspects Suraj 29-year-old labourer from Nepal, died while being interrogated at the Kotkhai police station . The police alleged that he was murdered by one of his co-accused.

The custodial death aggravated the ongoing public protests and speculations of an unfair investigation, triggering an outburst in Kotkhai and Theog the next morning. A mob burnt down the Kotkhai police station and vandalised police vehicles. The same day, the Himachal Pradesh High Court ordered the CBI to take over the case. CBI arrests the SIT head. A few days later, the CBI was also tasked with investigating Suraj’s custodial death, in connection with which it arrested eight police officials, including IG Zaidi, in August 2017.

The case against them was eventually shifted to the CBI court in Chandigarh, where it is currently underway against nine people. Some of the police officials were granted bail by the Supreme Court in 2019, including IG Zaidi who was reinstated in the state police. Last year, however, an SP from Himachal told the court that she was being pressured by Zaidi to change her statement. The court cancelled Zaidi’s bail, and he’s back behind bars in Burail jail, Chandigarh. Other accused are all out on bail presently.

The rape-murder: Investigation 2.0

On July 22  CBI registered two cases under Sections 302, 376 of IPC and Section 4 of POCSO Act relating to rape and murder of a minor girl and another case under section 302 of IPC relating to the custodial death of Suraj. The CBI found that the DNA of those already arrested did not match the reference DNA extracted from samples taken from the crime spot and the victim’s body in the rape and murder case, according to the agency’s chargesheet filed in the trial court. The accused also underwent scientific tests such as polygraph, narco analysis and brain mapping at a forensic lab in Gujarat. According to the CBI, the involvement of the six people could not be established, and the five surviving accused were eventually discharged from the case.

On April 13, 2018 – CBI arrests woodcutter Anil Kumar alias Nilu in Kotkhai minor rape and murder case. On May 29– CBI submits charge sheet in court against Nilu, the lone accused in the case. On Oct 15, 2020 Family members of Gudiya filed petition in High Court seeking re-investigation into the case. On April 28, 2021 Lone Accused Nilu convicted in Gudiya rape and murder case and on 18th June, 2021 local court sentenced him life imprisonment.