Khairlanji case judgement on September 15

Nagpur, Sep 2 (UNI) The judgement in the trial pertaining to the killing of four members of a Dalit family in village Khairlanji in Bhandara district in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra is slated to be delivered on September 15.

First Ad Hoc Judge and First Additional Sessions Judge S S Das in Bhandara, who is hearing the case, set the date for the judgement after the prosecution and the defence closed their arguments.

Surekha Bhotmange (45), her daughter Priyanka (18), and sons Roshan (23) and Sudhir (21) were lynched by a mob in Khairlanji late on the night of September 29, 2006, over a land dispute. The head of the family, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, managed to escape and survived.

The police had arrested 47 people in all during investigation into the incident. The probe was later handed over to the CBI, which filed a chargesheet against 11 people, with the remaining 36 being released as no charges were brought against them. There had been widespread violence at several places in Vidarbha, including Nagpur, Yavatmal and Amravati, in the weeks after the killings.

Noted lawyer Adv Ujwal Nikam is the special public prosecutor in the case, while Adv Ejaz Khan is the CBI counsel.

UNI AB SSS SP AS1441