Soren was given the benefit of doubt along with 13 others by Jamtara additional district and sessions judge Arun Kumar for want of evidence.
RANCHI: Nearly one-and-a-half years after he was absolved by a Delhi court in the murder of his private secretary, a Jharkhand court on Thursday acquitted former Union coal minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Sibu Soren in the 33-year-old Chirudih massacre case citing lack of evidence.
Soren, still in legal tangles in another double murder case, was given the benefit of doubt along with 13 others by Jamtara additional district and sessions judge Arun Kumar for want of evidence.
The court, however, held seven persons guilty in the case. The quantum of their punishment would be announced later. The case relates to the massacre of 11 people, including nine Muslims, in Chirudih village of Jamtara district on January 23, 1975, by a mob following a movement launched by Soren to drive away the Dikus (outsiders). Soren was accused of inciting the mob to kill the outsiders.
“Justice has triumphed,’’ was the immediate reaction of the tribal leader, who had appeared in person in the court, as he was forced to quit the Union cabinet in 2004 following the issuance of a non-bailable warrant of arrest against him. He was among the 69 accused against whom the chargesheet was filed.
JMM workers hailed the judgment. “Justice has been done with Guru-ji (as Soren is called) after three decades. We were sure that he would be acquitted,” said Vinod Pandey, a JMM worker. The JMM members danced to drum beats and put gulal on each other to celebrate the acquittal of Soren.
Soren had gone into hiding following the warrant and appealed to the Jharkhand high court to set aside the non-bailable warrant. The high court, however, asked him to surrender before a local court and he complied with it on August 2, 2004 and spent 38 days in jail at Jamtara. He later secured a bail from the high court.
He got a breather on November 28, 2006 when a Delhi court acquitted him in the case of murder of his private secretary Sashinath Jha.
Soren, a former chief minister of Jharkhand, is facing trial in the Kurko double murder case of 1974 which took place over the killing of a goat in 1974. The case is being tried by the first additional district and sessions court, Giridih, and Soren is one of the 11 accused in the case, his counsel Prakash Sahay said. He has against him two other cases relating to violation of the model code of conduct at Jamshedpur and Dumka. -PTI
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}