Three get life term for Mirchpur Dalit killings

Three persons were sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court on Monday for their involvement in the killings of a 70-year-old Dalit and his physically-challenged daughter at Haryana's Mirchpur village in April last year.

While sentencing Kulwinder, Ramphal and Rajender to life term, Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau sentenced five others to varying jail terms up to five years while letting off seven others on probation for one year.

A total of 15 people were convicted in the case on September 24.

The five, who were sentenced to lesser jail terms up to five years are Baljeet, Karamveer, Karampal, Dharambir and Bobal.

ASJ Lau also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on each of the eight convicts who were sentenced to varying jail terms, while a fine of Rs 10,000 each was imposed on probationer convicts.

The court had earlier acquitted 82 out of the 97 accused in the case, saying the allegations levelled against them were not proved beyond reasonable doubt.

The 15 convicts, belonging to Jat community, were held guilty for setting ablaze victim Tara Chand's house in Mirchpur village in Hissar district.

The incident took place after a dispute between Jat and Dalit communities of the village.

The court had convicted Kulwinder, Ramphal and Rajender, who were sentenced to life term, on charges of committing unintentional killings under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code.

Besides these three, 12 others were convicted on milder charges of arson, rioting and making unlawful assembly.

Six of them -- Monu, Baljeet, Karamveer, Karampal, Dharambir and Bobal -- were convicted for setting ablaze the houses of Dalits.

Another six persons were held guilty for rioting, unlawful assembly and causing damages to properties by pelting stones.

The court had convicted the 15 accused after examining 68 prosecution witnesses, 44 defence witnesses and one court witness.

The accused were tried under various IPC sections dealing with murder, rioting, making unlawful assembly, promoting enmity between different communities, physical assault, creating mischief and damaging public property.

The accused resorted to rioting and attacked the houses of people of Dalit community on April 21 as a pet dog of a Dalit had barked at a group of Jats two days ago, when they were passing through the colony, according to the charge-sheet.

They got enraged when a Dalit boy objected to hurling of stones by Jat youths at the dog, it had said, adding that later it led to the killings of Tara Chand and his physically- challenged teenaged daughter.