Principal Sessions Judge, Srinagar, Jawad Ahmed convicted Irshad Amin Wani of Wazirbagh and Muhammad Umer Noor of Bemina, noting that the prosecution had been able to establish the charges against the accused persons beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt.

Observing that a young girl of nearly 20 years of age who was studying law had acid thrown at her face out of “jealousy” and “envious possessiveness”, the court described the case as “horrific”.

While convicting the accused, the court held them guilty for the offences punishable under the sections of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), 326-A (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid), 201 (hiding or destroying evidence of a crime), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).

“The established facts, circumstances, and the chain of evidence taken cumulatively are so complete and consistent that in all human probabilities the only hypothesis is that the horrendous act of throwing acid on the victim has been committed by the accused No 2 (Umar) in furtherance of the conspiracy hatched by accused No 1 (Irshad) with accused No 2 (Umar),” the court said.

It said that the established facts and circumstances do not leave any reasonable ground for the conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused persons.

The incident of the acid attack on the law student occurred on December 11, 2014, and the Police had filed the case based on a complainant with SHO Police Station Soura.

Keeping in view the seriousness of the matter, the then IGP Kashmir constituted a Special Investigating Team (SIT) on December 12, 2014, headed by then SP Hazratbal.

The SIT undertook investigation of the case and zeroed in on a Maruti car on which word like “Munsa” was written on its rear side windscreen and subsequently arrested the accused persons.

According to the prosecution, the accused had removed black lines of tape and the sticker from the vehicle later.

“This goes to prove that the acid bottle and beaker purchased by the accused persons five days before the occurrence and the erased black lines of tape and stickers removed from the Maruti car used in the commission of crime have been destroyed by the accused persons after committing the heinous and horrific act of throwing acid on the victim,” the court said. “The accused persons have thereby caused to disappear the important piece of evidence to screen themselves from the legal peril.”

For establishing the charges against the accused persons, prosecution cited 48 witnesses in the calendar of challan.

Out of them, the prosecution examined 44 witnesses.

The court is likely to announce the quantum of punishment on August 19.

The court had reserved the judgment after hearing Special Public Prosecutor Abdul Aziz Teeli for the State, now UT of J&K, and the counsel representing the accused.

While the accused have been convicted, the court will decide on the quantum of punishment later on.