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Six of eight men accused of the rape, torture and murder of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in Indian-administered Kashmir have been found guilty in a specially convened fast-track court.
The victim, who belonged to a Muslim nomadic tribe, was found in a forest near Kathua city in January 2018.
The case made headlines when Hindu right-wing groups and lawyers protested over the arrest of the eight men.
All of them had pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
One of them – the son of one of those convicted – has been acquitted. The accused include a retired government official, four police officers and a minor.
The minor will be tried separately in accordance with India’s juvenile act.
When delivering its verdict, the court said that the sentences of the six convicts would be announced at 14:00 local time (08:30 GMT).
The Kathua rape and murder was one among many high-profile cases that prompted India to introduce a new law which mandated the death penalty to anyone convicted of raping a child under 12.
Details of the injuries inflicted on the child had horrified many Indians.
Outrage grew after two ministers from India’s governing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attended a rally in support of the accused men, whose community was involved in a land dispute with the nomadic tribe the girl belonged to.
Investigators at the time said that the child was targeted because the accused men wished to terrorise the tribe- known as Gujjars- into leaving.