Seven years after 33 backward caste Yadavs and Dalits were massacred by the outlawed Ranvir Sena in Mianpur village of Aurangabad district, a local court on Thursday awarded life imprisonment to nine accused and acquitted two others. The Mianpur massacre unleashed by the Ranvir Sena on June 16, 2000, was in retaliation to the killing of 34 upper caste Bhumihars of Senari village in neighbouring Jehanabad district earlier that year. Armed members of the private army raided the village in the cover of darkness and gunned down whoever came in sight. The victims were mostly women and children. The Sena had then alleged that Mianpur villagers patronised Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) cadres responsible for the Senari carnage. Altogether 14 persons were named accused in the massacre, of whom two are still absconding while one died during the course of the trial. Out of the nine sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday, only five were in judicial custody. Others were out on bail. Additional District Judge (III) Krishna Kant Tripathy held the nine guilty and directed the police to take them into custody and put them behind bars. During 1999-2000, Bihar witnessed a series of caste massacres, the result of a bitter turf battle between the Naxal outfits and the Ranvir Sena. While the Naxals claimed they were championing the cause of the poor, the Ranvir Sena said it was fighting the Red Army to protect the interests of the landed upper castes.
