Six get death for Khairlanji Dalit killings

NAGPUR: Six of the eight persons convicted for killing four members of a Dalit family in Khairlanji village of Bhandara district two years ago have been sentenced to death. The other two have been handed rigorous life imprisonment.

Pronouncing the much-awaited sentence on Wednesday, the Bhandara additional ad-hoc district and sessions judge, SS Das, first awarded life imprisonment to all the eight for the murder of Surekha Bhotmange under section 302 of the IPC. The judge then sentenced six of them to death for killing her children — Sudhir, 21, Roshan, 18, and Priyanka, 17, — on September 29, 2006. “I sentence them to hanging till death,” the judge said.

Those who have been handed the death penalty are Sakru Binjewar, Shatrughna Dhande, Vishwanath Dhande, Rameshwar aka Ramu Dhande, Jagdish Mandlekar and Prabhakar Mandlekar. Gopal Sakru Binjewar and Shishupal Dhande have been sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment.

The accused stood in complete silence and isolation in the courtroom, with no relative or Khairlanji villager by their side during the sentencing. 

Finding them guilty of killing Surekha and her three children on September 29, 2006, the court had convicted the accused under sections 302 (murder), 148, 149 and 201 of the IPC on September 15. The court, however, acquitted them of charges under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.  

But after the sentencing on Wednesday, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, the only surviving member of the family, was a relieved man. “I am satisfied, but hope the CBI will appeal against the acquittal of the three accused to bring them to justice in the higher court,” he said after the sentencing.

Bhaiyyalal would next week mark the second anniversary of the gruesome killings that wiped out his entire family. He had appealed to the Dalit groups to maintain peace.
“It’s the fruition of our protests on the streets that prompted the state government to hand over the case to the CBI and bring the culprits to book,” was how some of the Dalit groups pursuing the case, reacted to the death penalty.

The judge, who also awarded all the eight persons three years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs2,000 each under section 148, said the sentences run concurrently. He did not award separate punishment for section 201 (destroying evidence), saying it would merge into the more severe punishments — capital punishment and life term.

The evidence that has come on record before the court proved that the accused had chased Surekha’s three children and killed them in full public view.
The Wednesday sentencing brings to an end the trial that ran for 15 months in the fast-track-court.