Criminal trials are not decided by counting discrepancies, a court in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban said as it sentenced a militant to two life terms for the 2005 killing of a family.

Mohammad Sharief and another militant, Shabir Ahmed, were accused of entering the house of Rashid Bohra on the evening of July 27, 2005, and firing indiscriminately, killing three members of his family, including his five-month-old grandson. Rashid and his daughter-in-law survived the attack but were seriously injured.

The Ramban court sentenced Sharief to two life terms — one for murder and another for criminal conspiracy to commit an offence against the state. He was also sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 10 years for attempted murder and another 10 years under the Arms Act.…