New Delhi
All 97 acquitted of murdering Dalits
Sumit Saxena, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, September 24, 2011
Police baton charge protesters belonging to the Dalit community in
Hisar, Haryana. They were agitating outside the District Collector's
office against the bail given to some of the accused in the infamous
Mirchpur murder case.
Of the 97 people accused of burning to death a Dalit man and his
physically challenged daughter, 82 of them were acquitted by a Delhi
court on Saturday. Fifteen of them were convicted, but none have been
found guilty of murder. Tara Chand and his daughter were burnt alive
in
Haryana's Mirchpur village, just a 3-hour drive from the Capital, on
April 21, 2010, following a dispute between the Jat and Dalit
communities of the village.
The court blamed the police for shoddy investigation and for giving in
to political pressure.
Additional sessions judge Kamini Lau acquitted the 82 as the
prosecution could not get witnesses to prove they were part of the mob
that set ablaze Chand's house.
The chargesheet says the accused attacked Dalits after a dog belonging
to one of them had barked at a group of Jats.
Of the 15 convicted, only Kulwinder, Ramphal and Rajinder were
convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, with a maximum
10-year jail term.
Of the 15 convicted, main accused Kulwinder, Ramphal and Rajinder were
convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, with a maximum
10-year jail term. The other 12 accused have been charged with rioting
and arson, punishable with seven years in prison.
Slamming the Haryana Police for the shoddy probe that resulted in
acquittal of large number of accused, the judge said, "The manner in
which the whole thing was handled was improper…witnesses made bizarre
and inconsistent statements".
Referring to the fact that police had begun making arrests only after
four months of the incident and that too after the pressure from the
Supreme Court, the judge said: "The possibility of false implication
of many accused cannot be ruled out on account of political pressure
only to work out the present case".
The Supreme Court had transferred the case to Delhi on December 9,
2010 on plea of victims that a fair trial was not possible in Haryana.
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