By IANS,
Bhandara (Maharashtra) : A trial court here Monday convicted eight of the 11 accused on charges of killing four members of a Dalit family in Khairlanji village of Bhandara district. Three people were acquitted after the court deduced that the killings were not the result of caste atrocity.
A mob of about 50 villagers attacked the house of Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, a Dalit farmer, on the evening of Sep 29, 2006 and lynched four members of his family, including his wife Surekha, daughter Priyanka and two sons Dilip and Roshan.
Delivering the judgement at a packed sessions court here, the first ad-hoc sessions judge S.S. Dass held Gopal Sakru Binjewar, Sakru Mahagu Binjewar, Shatrughan Issam Dhande, Vishwanath Hagru Dhande, Ramu Mangru Dhande, Jagdish Ratan Mandlekar, Prabhakar Jaswant Mandlekar and Shishupal Dhande guilty.
He acquitted Mahipal Antu Dhande, Dharampal Vishwanath Dhande and Purushottam Bisan Titarmare.
The judge said he would announce the quantum of punishment for the eight guilty Sep 20.
The brutal killings, initially treated as gory fallout of a village feud but later seen as a blatant case of atrocity against a Dalit family by other Hindus, had led to widespread public outcry and invited nationwide media attention.
The immediate provocation for the savage mob attack was said to be the evidence given by Surekha and Priyanka against 15 of the villagers in a case of their kin Siddharth Gajbhiye being beaten up.
With the case fast turning into a volatile political issue, the state government transferred its investigations from the local police to the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and then to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In a damage control exercise following violent protests in many parts of the state, the government also suspended four police officers and three medical officers for dereliction of duty besides offering Bhaiyyalal Rs.1.2 million as compensation, a house and employment.
After taking charge of investigations, the CBI filed a chargesheet against 11 of 46 accused in the court of Dass on Dec 27, 2006, but had a tough time getting clinching evidence since there were virtually no witnesses to the killings apart from Bhaiyyalal.
Bhaiyyalal had slipped out of the house at the sight of the mob and after watching the assault for some time from behind a distant wall, fled to a neighbouring village.
After the framing of charges March 2, 2007, the trial court recorded the evidence and statements of 36 out of 74 witnesses (originally listed in the case) between May 3, 2007 and March 31, 2008. It heard arguments from both sides July 21-Aug 21, 2008 and Sep 1, and announced Sep 15 as the date for pronouncement of verdict.
While the state government appointed noted lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as special public prosecutor and Ijaz Khan represented the CBI, advocates M.P. Bedarkar, Neeraj Khandewale and Sudip Jaiswal held the brief for the accused.
Anticipating trouble following the pronouncement of the judgement irrespective of the way it went, the police had planned elaborate security measures on judgement day not only in and around the Bhandara sessions court but also in the entire district including Khairlanji and other sensitive areas.
Following the outbreak of violence and arson in the state two months after the massacre, police top brass and Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil had suspected the hand of Maoists in it. The police did not rule out recurrence of trouble from similar quarters in the aftermath of the judgement and as such, did not want to take chances, a top official told IANS explaining Monday’s elaborate security arrangements.