The acquittal of 23 people convicted of the massacre of 21 dalits and Muslims in Bihar’s Bathani Tola prompted street protests across Bihar on Tuesday and renewed concerns about the resolve and rigour of the state’s prosecution machinery in appeals made by the convicted.
Even as the Patna high court’s acquittal order in the infamous 1996 massacre case on Monday brought unease in public perceptions about the criminal investigation and judicial trials in Bihar, a trial court’s acquittal on Tuesday of RJD MP Umashankar Singh and his son in a murder case of 2000 added to such feelings.
The Siwan fast-track court’s acquittal judgment in the case against the MP and his son came despite the HC still considering a petition for transferring this case to another court. The HC, therefore, asked the Siwan judge to issue an explanation by May 11.
In the Bathani Tola massacre case, the HC’s 57-page judgment cited improper investigation and lack of evidence and ordered the release of the 23 accused, all upper-caste Rajput and Bhumihar landowners convicted by the district and sessions court in Ara in May 2010.
Three of them had been awarded death and the rest twenty life imprisonment.