Forty-two years after 10 Dalit people were shot dead in Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad district for complaining against a higher-caste ration shop owner, a local court in Firozabad has sentenced the only surviving accused to life imprisonment. He is 90-year-old.
Nine other men who were accused of the crime died during the protracted trial. “The case was transferred to Firozabad in 2021 and was decided accordingly” said district government counsel (DGC), Rajeev Upadhyay Priyadarshi while denying to comment on delay caused in the case in past.
“Ganga Dayal, the lone surviving accused in this 42-year-old case was alive on the day of judgement (May 31, 2023) and was sentenced to life imprisonment by district judge Harvir Singh,” said the DGC. The verdict was pronounced by the district and sessions court in Firozabad on Wednesday.
The case was heard in court of chief judicial magistrate and then in court of district and session Judge at Mainpuri.
Dayal was held guilty for murder (Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code) and sentenced to life imprisonment, and levied a penalty of ₹50,000. The accused was also held guilty for attempted murder (Section 307 of the IPC) and sentenced to 10 years’ in jail and a penalty of ₹5,000.
“The killings took place in Sadhupur village in the Shikohabad police station area in December 1981,” said the DGC. “The cause of enmity was a complaint lodged by a few Dalit villagers against a ration shop owner who took revenge along with nine of his associates and fired indiscriminately at these people who were cooking food in their house” said Upadhyay.
A railway official made a call to Shikohabad police station about the killings after he got information from Muni Chandra, the chief of Sadhupur village, he added…
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