Victims’ kin brought the good news…

“They wanted revenge for a murder after being misinformed by some villagers. In a fit of anger,they attacked my house and killed five of my family members,including my 10-year-old brother,” said Mahendra,an employee in the Agricultural department,Sitapur.

Both families later realised the mistake,“but it was too late. Things had gone out of hand and the court had awarded death penalty to the accused,” said Gyan Prakash,Mahendra’s cousin.

Prakash said the families of the convicts have been facing a horrid time ever since their men were put behind bars. “As farm workers,they have never gone beyond the hand-to-mouth mode,” he said.

In 1990,one Chandrika Prasad was shot dead in the village. His family suspected the involvement of Mahendra’s father,Sukhdarshan. On June 23,1990,a group of 20-odd men,carrying firearms and spears descended on Sukhdarshan’s house and killed four men. Before leaving,they set the house on fire and threw Mahendra’s younger brother,Sandeep,into it. Besides Sandeep,those killed were Sukhdarshan,his father Bhoneshwar Dayal,Mahendra’s uncle Kamlesh and cousin Surendra. After the incident,the police arrested 23 persons,all relatives and friends of Chandrika Prasad’s brother,Shyam Manohar,and sent them to jail. The sessions court of Lakhimpur Kheri awarded death sentence to six persons —Shyam Manohar,his brother Shiv Ram,Chandrika Prasad’s sons Ravindra and Harish and relatives Surendra and Prakash — and life imprisonment to 17 others. The sentences were upheld by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court and thereafter by the Supreme Court.

Prakash,Shyam Manohar and Ravindra are lodged in the Bareilly Central Jail,Shiv Ram and Harish are lodged in the Naini Jail while Suresh is lodged in the Ghaziabad Jail. None of the three jails has received any intimation about the commuting of the death sentence.

The families of the convicts,meanwhile,are relieved. Shyam Manohar’s wife Ram Guni said: “I have not seen him since he went to jail.”

Shiv Ram’s son,Sanjay added: “There are several stories surrounding the incident. We don’t know which of those was correct,but after the incident,the families never talked about it and avoided each other.”