16 sentenced to death in 1997 carnage in Bihar

16 sentenced to death in 1997 carnage in Bihar

PTI, Apr 7, 2010, 02.50pm IST

(GOOD WISHES TO NITISHji'S GOVERERNMENT...BIHAR COURT AND PEOPLE OF BIHAR....THEY HAVE LONG WAY TO GO YET, BUT THEIR "FIGHT AGAINST CRIME AND JOURNEY TOWARDS PEACE" HAS BEGUN!!!....MY GOOD WISHES, (BUT I HOPE NO INNOCENT GET CONVICTED,)
SO AS VIOLENCE MUST GET STOPPED.)

Laxmanpur Bathe carnage|1997 carnage in Bihar|16 get death sentence

PATNA: A Bihar court on Wednesday sentenced to death 16 of 26 convicted persons in the Laxmanpur Bathe carnage in Jehanabad district in which 58 people were killed by a private militia of landlords in 1997.

Announcing the judgement, additional district judge Vijay Prakash Mishra sentenced to life imprisonment the remaining 10 convicts and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each.

The trial in the case had concluded on April 1. Altogether 58 Dalits were gunned down by the Ranvir Sena, a private militia of land owners, at Laxmanpur Bathe on December 1, 1997.

Earlier, the case was transferred to Patna from Jehanabad following a Patna High Court order in October, 1999.

Charges were framed in the case against 46 Ranvir Sena men on December 23, 2008.

Around 91 of 152 witnesses in the case had deposed before the court.

Those sentenced to death are Girija Singh, Surendra Singh, Ashok Singh, Gopal Sharan Singh, Baleshwar Singh, Dawarka Singh, Vijendra Singh, Nawal Singh, Baliram Singh, Nandu Singh, Sheomohan Sharma, Pramod Singh, Shatrughan Singh, Ramkeval Sharma, Dharma Singh and Nand Singh -- all belonging to an upper caste community.

Those sentenced to life imprisonment are Babloo Sharma, Ashok Singh, Mithilesh Sharma, Dharikshan Choudhary, Navin Kumar, Ravindra Singh, Surendra Singh, Sunil Kumar, Pramod Kumar and Chandreshwar Singh.

Besides, two other accused persons -- Bhukhal Singh and Sudarshan Singh -- had died during the course of trial.

Several BJP leaders, including former union minister C P Thakur, had deposed before the Justice Amir Das led commission, which was set up by the then RJD government of Lalu Prasad to probe conspiracy angle in the case.

The opposition parties -- BJP and erstwhile Samata Party -- had demanded the imposition of President's Rule in the wake of the carnage that had sent shock waves across the state.