A court yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment three men found guilty of the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir, lawyers said.
Three others were given five years in jail for destruction of evidence.
The body of the girl belonging to a nomadic community was found with injury marks in a forest near Kathua city in January 2018.
She was kept captive in a temple in Kathua, in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region, for over four days, sedated, repeatedly raped, battered and strangled to death, according to the prosecution.
Seven men stood trial in the case, including a temple priest and policemen.
The incident sparked religious tension in the state.
The Supreme Court shifted the trial from Kathua to Pathankot in neighbouring Punjab to ensure the safety of witnesses and a fair trial.
The fast-track court in Pathankot found six men guilty.
Sanjhi Ram, a retired government official and custodian of the temple, Parvesh Kumar, another local person, and special police officer Deepak Khajuria were held guilty of kidnapping, murder, rape and assault.
Three policemen – Surender Verma, Anand Dutta and Tilak Raj, who were accused of taking bribes for sabotaging the case – were found guilty of destruction of evidence.
Sanji Ram’s son Vishal was acquitted due to lack of evidence, but the fate of his nephew, a minor, will be decided by the juvenile court.
His trial is yet to begin as a petition to determine his age is awaiting judgment in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
Investigations suggested that the girl was targeted in order to strike fear in her nomad community and drive them out of the area.
“The girl and her family got justice today. We are satisfied by the judgment,” prosecution lawyer M Farooqi said outside the court.
“We will appeal against the verdict in the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” said Mohan Lal, lawyer for Sanjhi Ram.
“Welcome the judgement. High time we stop playing politics over a heinous crime. Hope loopholes in our judicial system are not exploited and culprits get exemplary punishment,” former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said in a Twitter post.
Prosecutors said that they would study the verdict before deciding whether to appeal.
The family, who were in the court yesterday, had hoped that all six would be given the death sentences, prosecutors said.
India has the death penalty for the most brutal murders and terror attacks.
The last execution happened in 2015 over bombings in Mumbai in 1993.
The Kathua case sparked two days of violent protests in Jammu and demonstrations in several other places across India, including in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. 
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party also drew flak after two of its members participated in rallies in support of the accused.
The protests were reminiscent of those that followed the fatal gang-rape of a Delhi student on a bus in 2012 that made headlines around the world.
Sexual violence, including against children, remains unabated in India.
Nearly 20,000 child rape cases were reported in 2016, according to official data, while a 2014 UN report said one in three rape victims was a minor.
Yesterday hundreds of police were on duty in Pathankot for the trial.
Wary of new protests, security was also heavy in Kathua town and surrounding Muslim areas, although no incidents were reported.
Also yesterday, police arrested a man for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
Vishnu Prasad, 35, was arrested from Khandwa, about 275km from Bhopal.
The police claimed family members gave away Prasad’s location. 
The child went missing around 8pm on Saturday and her body was recovered from a nearby drain in the early hours of Sunday.
There were cuts on her face apparently caused by blades.