http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10627073
14 July 2010 Last updated at 07:26 GMT
Death sentences dropped for mob murder of Dalit family
Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange watched helplessly as the mob slaughtered his
family A court in India has commuted to life in jail the death
sentences of six men convicted of killing four members of a
lower-caste Dalit family in 2006.
The six have now been sentenced for life "for a period of 25 years",
the court in Maharashtra state has ruled.
Eight men were found guilty in September 2008. Two were given life
sentences. Three others were acquitted.
The Dalits - a woman, daughter and two sons - were killed by an
upper-caste mob in a land row. The husband escaped.
The case led to widespread protests. Crimes against Dalits, formerly
known as untouchables, often go unpunished in India.
Discrimination against Dalits, who are at the bottom of the
centuries-old Hindu caste system, is a punishable offence in India.
But campaigners say violence against Dalits continues.
Raped and murdered
The brutal killings took place on 29 September 2006 in a remote
village called Khairlanji, in Bhandara district in the north-east of
Maharashtra, western India.
Surekha Bhotmange, her 17-year-old daughter Priyanka and two sons,
19-year-old Roshan and 21-year-old Sudhir, were at home when the mob
broke into their mud hut and murdered them.
The four were dragged out and beaten with bicycle chains, sticks and
other weapons.
The court heard that the mother and daughter were stripped and raped
by the mob. The women's bodies were found in a nearby canal the next
day.
Surekha's husband, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, managed to escape and hid
behind a tree from where he watched helplessly as his family were
killed.
He pursued the case with the support of several human rights activists.
The killings led to widespread protests across Maharashtra.
In the traditional Hindu caste system, Dalits were considered the
lowest of the low castes.
They were expected to do the most menial jobs in villages. They could
not share basic amenities, including drinking water, with upper-caste
people.
Such practices still exist in rural areas.
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