A POCSO court in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district on Saturday convicted two men of gang raping and killing a 14-year-old girl by throwing her in a coal furnace in August last year.

The court also acquitted seven other accused who were accused of destroying evidence.

Special Public Prosecutor Mahaveer Singh Kishnawat said that the court will pronounce punishment on Monday. He said that an appeal against the acquittal would be made.

The incident had become a political issue with the BJP, which was in Opposition at that time, targeting the then Congress government over crime against women.

"The court today held Kalu and Kanha guilty of gang-raping and killing the girl. Seven people, three women and four men, who were accused of destroying evidence, were acquitted," Kishnawat said.

A 14-year-old girl was murdered and she was thrown in a coal furnace in the Kotri police station area in August last year, police said.

Kotri now falls in the newly created Shahpura district.

Police had arrested the two accused, who were from the Kalbelia tribe and were involved in making coal in furnaces there, in connection with the incident, they said.

The girl went missing while she had gone to graze cattle on August 2 last year. The two accused gang-raped and threw her into a coal furnace in the night, police said.

After the gang rape, assuming that the victim had died, the accused threw her in the furnace. However, the forensic report showed that the girl was alive when she was thrown. She died due to burn injuries, they said.

There were a total of five furnaces in a row and one of them was being operated without it being covered, raising suspicion. The locals around spotted a fire in the furnace and found the girl's bracelet.

They alerted the police who later recovered her bones from the furnace.

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