Thirteen years after 58 Dalits were massacred by a private upper caste army,Ranvir Sena,in Laxmanpur-Bathe village of Jehanabad,a Patna court on Wednesday sentenced 16 persons to death and awarded life sentence to 10 others. Sixteen others were acquitted. The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge-I convicted 26 people,treating it as the rarest of rare case. Most of the accused owed allegiance to the Ranvir Sena. Laxmanpur-Bathe was the last big assault by Ranvir Sena against Dalits in 1997 after it engaged in a caste war with MCC,now CPI (Maoist). Naxals,who treated Dalits as their sympathisers,avenged Laxmanpur-Bathe massacre by killing 34 upper caste men on March 18,1999 in Senari village,Jehanabad. After the pronouncement by Additional District Sessions Judge Vijay Prakash Mishra,one of the seven prosecution lawyers,C K Sinha,said: As Laxmanpur-Bathe was one of the biggest carnage,the court took strong view of the killing of the Dalits in a brutal manner and sentenced 16 people to death treating it as the rarest of rare case. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 each on 10 convicts getting life imprisonment. Some convicts were sent to Beur jail on Wednesday. The court cancelled the bail of some convicts with immediate effect. Families of victims,who awaited the verdict,called it a landmark judgment. Chandan,a relative of a victim,said: Four families were completely wiped out. The court did the right thing by pronouncing death sentence to 16 people. Charges were framed against 44 Ranvir Sena men on December 23,2008 on charges of killing 58 people,including 27 women and 10 children on December 1,1997. During the hearing,91 of the 152 witnesses deposed before the court and 47 were made accused in the case. The trial had concluded on April 1 this year. The case was transferred to Patna court from Jehanabad following a Patna High Court order in October 1999. 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. Those sentenced to life are Babloo Sharma,Ashok Singh,Mithilesh Sharma,Dharikshan Choudhary,Navin Kumar,Ravindra Singh,Surendra Singh,Sunil Kumar,Pramod Kumar and Chandreshwar Singh. Two other accused Bhukhal Singh and Sudarshan Singh died during the trial. Several BJP leaders,including former Union minister C P Thakur,had deposed before the Justice Amir Das led-commission,set up by the then RJD government of Lalu Prasad to probe into the case. With pti inputs
