The Gujarat High Court on Monday dismissed appeals against the acquittal of eight people who had allegedly attacked a Dalit RTI activist from Bhavnagar, Amrabhai Boricha, in 2009. Boricha was hacked to death in March 2021 in the presence of security personnel deployed for his protection.
A bench of Justice R M Sareen observed that there was a “possibility” that Boricha had filed a “false complaint keeping vengeance against the accused”. Two criminal appeals were filed before the court in 2013—one by the state and another by Boricha—after a Bhavnagar sessions court in December 2012 acquitted eight people accused in the case.
They were facing charges under Indian Penal Code sections 504 (intentional insults to breach peace), 506(2) (criminal intimidation) and 114 (abetment), under section 135 of the Bombay Police Act and under section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (intentionally insult or intimidate with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view).
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com . Read the full story here