PATNA: In a major verdict, the Patna High Court on Friday acquitted 13 accused in Bihar’s infamous Senari massacre, in which 34 members of an upper caste were killed by Maoist Communist Centre, an outlawed organisation, in 1999.
A division bench comprising Justices Ashwani Kumar Singh and Arvind Srivastava set aside the judgment of a lower court in acquitting the 13 The court has ordered that they be released immediately. In 1999, extremists linked to the MCC executed 34 members of an upper caste in an open field in Senari.
On November 15, 2016, Jehanabad district court had sentenced 10 of the accused to death and three others to life imprisonment. The state government had filed a death reference in the Patna HC seeking its confirmation of the death sentence by the lower court. Meanwhile, some of the convicts filed an appeal challenging the lower court’s verdict.
The 13 acquitted are: Bacheesh Kumar Singh, Budhan Yadav, Gopal Saw, Butai Yadav, Satendra Das, Lalan Pasi, Dwarika Paswan, Kareem Paswan, Gorai Paswan, Uma Paswan, Mungeshwar Yadav, Vinay Paswan and Arvind Paswan.