Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday has commuted the death sentence of all the six accused in the killing of four Dalits at Khairlanji in Maharashtra to life term. Life imprisonment to the accused in the Khairlanji killings case will be for a period of 25 years, including the time they have already served in prison.
A division bench comprising Justices A P Lawande and R C Chauhan delivered the much-awaited final verdict in the case, turning down a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the lower court's ruling giving life to two of the eight accused while sentencing to death six people.
The High Court completed hearing against confirmation of death sentence on April 22, 2010. The case was further posted for final verdict to June 15.
The horrific incident unfolded on the evening of September 29, 2006, when a group of villagers descended on the Bhotmange family in Khairlanji village in Maharashtra’s Bhandara district.
They dragged out Surekha Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, 44, her sons Roshan, 23, Sudhir, 21 and daughter Priyanka, 18, assaulted them brutally, paraded them naked in the village, sexually abused them with sticks and then hacked them to death. The women were gangraped.
The attackers mutilated the private parts of the two sons - all this in full public view of many other villagers.
Surekha’s husband, Bhaiyyalal, who had gone to work in the fields also witnessed the incident while hiding in a nearby hut. He managed to escape the mob brutality.
A few days before the incident - which led to widespread Dalit protests all over Maharashtra - Surekha Bhotmange had lodged a police complaint in a land dispute against some villagers. The attacks on the Bhotmanges were a revenge for Surekha’s daring.
However, a Special Court in Bhandara on September 24, 2008, found the eight accused guilty and awarded capital punishment to six while two were awarded life imprisonment.
The accused whose death sentences were commuted to life include Sakru Binjawar, Ramu Dhande, Shatraghan Dhande, Vishwanath Dhande, Jagnish Mandlekar and Prabhakar Mandlekar. The accused facing life imprisonment are Gopal Binjawar and Shishupal Dhande.
Three other accused Mahipal Dhande, Dharmpal Dhande and Purushottam Titarmare were let off due to lack of evidence.
The police had arrested 47 people in all during investigation into the incident. The probe was later handed over to the CBI, which filed a chargesheet only against 11 persons.
(With inputs from IANS, CNN-IBN)
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