By IANS,
Meerut : A community panchayat (council) in this Uttar Pradesh district has excommunicated four brothers who murdered a youth visiting their sister and ordered them them to leave the town, police said Friday. A fine was slapped on their two accomplices.
Citing the complaint filed by father of the murdered youth, police said that the panchayat was held in Sardhana town Thursday and rendered its judgement after two hours of arguments.
Giving details, police said on Sunday, the four brothers badly beat the youth, identified as Rashid, son of Sahiuddin. When the locals reached the spot, the culprits fled.
Rashid was rushed to Meerut Medical College where he succumbed to his injuries.
As Sahiuddin lodged a complaint with the Sardhana police station and police began investigations, community leaders meanwhile of the community summoned a panchayat and pronounced the judgment on the murderers.
The four brothers were ordered to be excommunicated from the community and to be externed from the town for a year. Their accomplices, Kasim and Rashid, were fined Rs.5 lakh but their defence counsel argued for lesser punishment which was accepted by the panchayat head and finally the punishment was reduced to Rs.1 lakh.
One of the brothers, Zaheed opposed the judgment for which he was ordered to pay a fine. If he failed to pay it within a week, his house would be seized, the panchayat head announced.