Srinagar, April 24 (IANS): A trial court in the Kupwara border district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday sentenced four people to death in a 2007 gang rape and murder of a 13 year-old girl.

Principal District and Sessions Judge Kupwara, Muhammad Ibrahim Wani, announced the sentence on Friday. He pronounced all the four accused as guilty, awarding them death penalty.

On July 20, 2007, Tabinda Gani, of Batpora Langate, was found dead in an orchard in Kupwara.

The body of Tabinda, a class eight student, was found with her throat slit. Medical reports confirmed that the girl had been raped before being murdered.

The four convicts are Sadiq Mir and Azhar Mir of Langate Kupwara and two non-locals, Jehangir Ansari of West Bengal and Suresh Kumar of Rajasthan.

The family of the victim and the civil society hailed the court verdict.

The incident had rocked Kashmir with large scale protests demanding severe punishment for the culprits.