14 sentenced to life in Bhagalpur riot case

Bhagalpur, July 7: In a landmark judgement, all the 14 accused of the Logai village massacre in 1989 Bhagalpur riot case were today sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by the district sessions court.

Additional district and sessions judge Shambhu Nath Mishra in a packed courtroom pronounced the quantum of punishment and sentenced all the 14 accused, including Police Sub-Inspector Ram Chandra Singh, to rigorous life imprisonment after they were found guilty in the case under sections 112,147,147 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

Except one, all the convicts were present in the court as one of them Jayi Prakash Mandal remained untraced till today. The court had, however, declared Jai Prakash an absconder and directed the district police superintendent to arrest him immediately.

The Court was scheduled to pronounce the punsihment in the case on June 27, but that was postponed as the police failed to produce Mandal in the court on that day too.

Though chargesheets were filed against altogether 24 accused in the case, four were later declared absconder, while six others died during the intervening period of the 18 year long trial.

Among others SI Ram Chandra Singh was charged with instigating the rioters to kill the Logai villagers during the infamous Bhagalpur riot that took place on October 28,1989.

The convicts in Bhagalpur riot case are:- Ramchandra Prasad Singh, Thakur Paswan,Prabhat Mandal, Ram Deo Mandal, Ajay Lal Mandal, Arjun Mandal,Sukhdeo Mandal, Kuldeep Mandal, Subhsh Mandal, Yadu Mandal, Naresh Mandal, Shiv Lal Mandal, Sarju Prasad Sing and Jai Prakash Mandal(absconding).

UNI