16 साल बाद जहानाबाद नरसंहार के आरोपी बरी
वार्ता | Jan 13, 2015 at 07:38pm | Updated Jan 13, 2015 at 09:01pm
जहानाबाद।
जहानाबाद की एक अदालत ने आज 24 दलितों की सामूहिक हत्या के 16 साल पुराने
मामले में सभी अभियुक्तों को साक्ष्य के अभाव में बरी कर दिया। अपर जिला
एवं सत्र न्यायाधीश राघवेंद्र कुमार सिन्हा ने शंकर बिगहा नरसंहार कांड की
सुनवाई के बाद सभी 24 अभियुक्तों को साक्ष्य के अभाव में आरोप मुक्त कर
दिया है।
इस
मामले में 50 लोगों ने गवाही दी थी, लेकिन उनमें से कोई भी अभियुक्त की
पहचान नहीं कर सका। गौरतलब है कि 24 जनवरी 1999 की देर रात तत्कालीन
जहानाबाद और अब अरवल जिला के महेंदिया थाना के शंकर बिगहा गांव में कथित
भूशस्वामियों की प्रतिबंधित रणवीर सेना ने महिलाओं और बच्चों समेत 24
दलितों की गोली मारकर हत्या कर दी थी।
इस हमले में 14 लोग घायल भी हुए थे। पुलिस ने इस मामले में 24 लोगों को नामजद और सौ से ज्यादा अज्ञात लोगों को अभियुक्त बनाया था।http://khabar.ibnlive.in.com/news/134413/1
लक्ष्मणपुर बाथे नरसंहार के सभी 26 आरोपी बरी
वार्ता | Oct 09, 2013 at 05:17pm | Updated Oct 09, 2013 at 10:55pm
पटना। पटना हाईकोर्ट ने आज
लक्ष्मणपुर बाथे नरसंहार के सजायाफ्ता सभी 26 लोगों को बरी कर दिया। जस्टिस
वी एन सिन्हा और जस्टिस ए के लाल की खंडपीठ ने फैसला सुनाते हुए कहा कि
अभियोजन पक्ष की ओर से पेश किए गए सभी गवाह और साक्ष्य विश्वसनीय नहीं हैं।
इसलिए सभी दोषियों को संदेह का लाभ देते हुए रिहा किया जाता है। अदालत ने
अपने फैसले में यह भी कहा है कि जो अभियुक्त इस मामले में जेल में हैं और
उनके खिलाफ कोई अन्य मामला नहीं हैं तो उन्हें अविलंब जेल से रिहा किया
जाए।
गौरतलब
है कि 1 दिसंबर 1997 को बिहार के जहानाबाद जिले का लक्ष्मणपुर बाथे गांव
में रणबीर सेना के लोगों ने दिनदहाड़े 60 लोगों को गोलियों से भून डाला था।
उस गांव में जो लोग मारे गए थे, उनमें 27 महिलाएं दस बच्चे शामिल थे। उन
27 महिलाओं में करीब दस महिलाएं गर्भवती भी थीं। हालांकि इस नरसंहार मामले
में पटना की एक अदालत ने अप्रैल 2010 में 16 दोषियों को मौत की सजा सुनाई
और 10 को आजीवन कारावास की सजा सुनाई थी।
भोजपुर जिले के बथानी टोला नरसंहार कांड में 23 बरी
भाषा
| पटना, 16 अप्रैल 2012 | अपडेटेड: 15:23 IST
आरा स्थित एक स्थानीय अदालत ने 21 लोगों के नरसंहार के मामले में 12 मई 2010 को 23 लोगों को सजा सुनाई थी. तीन लोगों को सजा ए मौत और 20 अन्य को आजीवन कारावास की सजा दी गयी थी. दोषियों ने निचली अदालत के फैसले को पटना उच्च न्यायालय में चुनौती दी थी.
रणवीर सेना के कार्यकर्ताओं ने धावा बोलकर 11 जुलाई 1996 में दो मासूम बच्चों, महिलाओं और बच्चियों समेत 21 दलितों की तड़के दो बजे हत्या कर दी थी. यह नरसंहार राजनीतिक रूप से काफी चर्चित हुआ था.http://aajtak.intoday.in/story/Bihar-court-acquits-23-in-caste-massacre-case-1-695810.html
AHRC deplores Jehanabad Court verdict that 'No One Killed 22 Dalits'
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deplored that citing lack
of evidence against those accused of killing 22 Dalits in Shankar Bigha
of Jehanabad, the district civil court acquitted all of the suspects.
In a media statement AHRC said that coming a full 15 years after the massacre on the eve of 26
January 1999 - ironically the Republic Day - the verdict is not a
standalone case of justice being first delayed for the Dalits and
then altogether denied to them. The denial did not come from the
lower judiciary alone, the higher judiciary has also acquitted many of
the accused as well; often by setting aside the convictions by lower
judiciary.
In July of the same year, the Court had reversed the conviction and sentencing of 9 out of 10 accused of perpetrating the Miyapur Massacre. All of them had been convicted and sentenced to life by a court in Aurangabad in 2007. The High Court upheld the conviction of only one accused who was identified by an eyewitness while letting all the others go.
A few months before, in March 2013, the same High Court acquitted all 11 persons accused of Nagari Bazaar massacre case in which 10 Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) supporters were killed in Bihar's Bhojpur district in 1998. Previously, a court in Ara, Bhojpur had found them guilty of committing the massacre and handed a death sentence to three while handing down life sentence to the remaining eight.
The acquittals came on the ground of "lack of adequate evidence" and absence of any eyewitnesses. That verdict also ordered immediate release if the accused were not wanted in any other case.
A year before, in 2012, the same high court had acquitted all the 23 persons accused of killing 21 Dalits at Bathani Tola in Bhojpur in 1996. All of the accused were originally convicted and sentenced by the sessions court in Ara in 2010 with three of them getting death sentence and remaining received life. The reason behind acquittals in this case was "defective evidence".
AHRC pointed out that a noteworthy point in all these acquittals is that they were all booked under the stringent provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and the lower courts have found sufficient evidence to sentence the accused.
The High Court acquittals, on the other hand, are a practical claim that no one killed hundreds of massacred Dalits. It neither asked the prosecution to investigate who killed the victims; nor did it ask how this impunity for the murderers of the Dalits, oppressed by the system for thousands of years, perpetuates itself.
It may never ask, AHRC felt, as the impunity for the perpetrators of atrocities against Dalits is not limited to Bihar but runs across the judicial structure of the country. One may recall the horrendous murder of a Dalit family in Khairlanji, Maharashtra in which the prosecution has not pressed the Prevention Act at all! That shows how systematic and institutionalised casteism functions to deny the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the victims, it added.
AHRC said that the citizenry of the country deserves to know who killed the Dalits. It deserves to see the perpetrators of such hate crime serve their sentences. It worried that a country allowing the murderers of a section of its citizens to go free is merely a delinquent democracy after all, not a republic.
AHRC deplores Jehanabad Court verdict that 'No One Killed 22 Dalits'
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deplored that citing lack
of evidence against those accused of killing 22 Dalits in Shankar Bigha
of Jehanabad, the district civil court acquitted all of the suspects.
In a media statement AHRC said that coming a full 15 years after the massacre on the eve of 26
January 1999 - ironically the Republic Day - the verdict is not a
standalone case of justice being first delayed for the Dalits and
then altogether denied to them. The denial did not come from the
lower judiciary alone, the higher judiciary has also acquitted many of
the accused as well; often by setting aside the convictions by lower
judiciary.
In July of the same year, the Court had reversed the conviction and sentencing of 9 out of 10 accused of perpetrating the Miyapur Massacre. All of them had been convicted and sentenced to life by a court in Aurangabad in 2007. The High Court upheld the conviction of only one accused who was identified by an eyewitness while letting all the others go.
A few months before, in March 2013, the same High Court acquitted all 11 persons accused of Nagari Bazaar massacre case in which 10 Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) supporters were killed in Bihar's Bhojpur district in 1998. Previously, a court in Ara, Bhojpur had found them guilty of committing the massacre and handed a death sentence to three while handing down life sentence to the remaining eight.
The acquittals came on the ground of "lack of adequate evidence" and absence of any eyewitnesses. That verdict also ordered immediate release if the accused were not wanted in any other case.
A year before, in 2012, the same high court had acquitted all the 23 persons accused of killing 21 Dalits at Bathani Tola in Bhojpur in 1996. All of the accused were originally convicted and sentenced by the sessions court in Ara in 2010 with three of them getting death sentence and remaining received life. The reason behind acquittals in this case was "defective evidence".
AHRC pointed out that a noteworthy point in all these acquittals is that they were all booked under the stringent provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and the lower courts have found sufficient evidence to sentence the accused.
The High Court acquittals, on the other hand, are a practical claim that no one killed hundreds of massacred Dalits. It neither asked the prosecution to investigate who killed the victims; nor did it ask how this impunity for the murderers of the Dalits, oppressed by the system for thousands of years, perpetuates itself.
It may never ask, AHRC felt, as the impunity for the perpetrators of atrocities against Dalits is not limited to Bihar but runs across the judicial structure of the country. One may recall the horrendous murder of a Dalit family in Khairlanji, Maharashtra in which the prosecution has not pressed the Prevention Act at all! That shows how systematic and institutionalised casteism functions to deny the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the victims, it added.
AHRC said that the citizenry of the country deserves to know who killed the Dalits. It deserves to see the perpetrators of such hate crime serve their sentences. It worried that a country allowing the murderers of a section of its citizens to go free is merely a delinquent democracy after all, not a republic.
AHRC deplores Jehanabad Court verdict that 'No One Killed 22 Dalits'
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deplored that citing lack
of evidence against those accused of killing 22 Dalits in Shankar Bigha
of Jehanabad, the district civil court acquitted all of the suspects.
In a media statement AHRC said that coming a full 15 years after the massacre on the eve of 26
January 1999 - ironically the Republic Day - the verdict is not a
standalone case of justice being first delayed for the Dalits and
then altogether denied to them. The denial did not come from the
lower judiciary alone, the higher judiciary has also acquitted many of
the accused as well; often by setting aside the convictions by lower
judiciary.
In July of the same year, the Court had reversed the conviction and sentencing of 9 out of 10 accused of perpetrating the Miyapur Massacre. All of them had been convicted and sentenced to life by a court in Aurangabad in 2007. The High Court upheld the conviction of only one accused who was identified by an eyewitness while letting all the others go.
A few months before, in March 2013, the same High Court acquitted all 11 persons accused of Nagari Bazaar massacre case in which 10 Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) supporters were killed in Bihar's Bhojpur district in 1998. Previously, a court in Ara, Bhojpur had found them guilty of committing the massacre and handed a death sentence to three while handing down life sentence to the remaining eight.
The acquittals came on the ground of "lack of adequate evidence" and absence of any eyewitnesses. That verdict also ordered immediate release if the accused were not wanted in any other case.
A year before, in 2012, the same high court had acquitted all the 23 persons accused of killing 21 Dalits at Bathani Tola in Bhojpur in 1996. All of the accused were originally convicted and sentenced by the sessions court in Ara in 2010 with three of them getting death sentence and remaining received life. The reason behind acquittals in this case was "defective evidence".
AHRC pointed out that a noteworthy point in all these acquittals is that they were all booked under the stringent provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and the lower courts have found sufficient evidence to sentence the accused.
The High Court acquittals, on the other hand, are a practical claim that no one killed hundreds of massacred Dalits. It neither asked the prosecution to investigate who killed the victims; nor did it ask how this impunity for the murderers of the Dalits, oppressed by the system for thousands of years, perpetuates itself.
It may never ask, AHRC felt, as the impunity for the perpetrators of atrocities against Dalits is not limited to Bihar but runs across the judicial structure of the country. One may recall the horrendous murder of a Dalit family in Khairlanji, Maharashtra in which the prosecution has not pressed the Prevention Act at all! That shows how systematic and institutionalised casteism functions to deny the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the victims, it added.
AHRC said that the citizenry of the country deserves to know who killed the Dalits. It deserves to see the perpetrators of such hate crime serve their sentences. It worried that a country allowing the murderers of a section of its citizens to go free is merely a delinquent democracy after all, not a republic.
