A special court in the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh delivered a significant verdict on Saturday, convicting five individuals in connection with a 32-year-old triple murder case. The court awarded life imprisonment to all five convicts who had carried out the brutal killings in July 1994, where a woman was tied to a tree and forced to watch the murders of her husband, son, and son-in-law.
Court Pronounces Sentences and Imposes Fines
The verdict was delivered by Special Judge Pawan Kumar Sharma, presiding over the court handling Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC-ST) Act cases. After evaluating the evidence and hearing arguments from both sides, the court held Mahavir, Girdhari, Vijayraj, Garibe, and Radheshyam guilty of the crimes. Alongside the life terms, the court imposed a fine of 1,15,000 rupees on each convict.
The court further ordered that half of the total fine collected from the convicts must be disbursed to the victims' surviving family members. The judge also stipulated that failure to deposit the fine would result in an additional six months of imprisonment for the defaulting convicts.
Deadly Assault Carried Out on July 31, 1994
According to prosecution records placed before the court, the incident occurred on July 31, 1994, in Chauwainpurwa village, falling under the jurisdiction of the Nanpara Kotwali police station. On that day, an armed group comprising Shyamlal, Ramphal, Gopi, Dhodhe, Girdhari, Mahavir, Vijayraj, Garibe, and Radheshyam barged into the victims' residence.
Armed with wooden sticks and sharp-edged weapons, the assailants launched an aggressive assault inside the home. Chirku, his son Santram, and his son-in-law Mayaram sustained fatal injuries and died from the attack. Following the incident, Chirku's wife Sumitra Devi approached the authorities, and a formal police complaint was registered based on her written statement.
Eyewitness Bound to Tree During the Crime
Sumitra Devi stated in her complaint to the police that she had rushed forward in an attempt to protect her husband when the attackers stormed the house. The assailants restrained her, tied her firmly to a tree to prevent intervention, and proceeded to execute the killings directly in front of her. Her husband, son, and son-in-law were murdered before her eyes, sending shockwaves across Chauwainpurwa village and the entire district.
Four Accused Passed Away During the Lengthy Trial
Following the completion of the investigation, the police had submitted a comprehensive charge sheet against the accused in court. A government advocate representing the prosecution noted that during the extended course of the trial over more than three decades, four of the accused individuals—Shyamlal, Ramphal, Gopi, and Dhodhe—died. Proceedings against those four deceased individuals were subsequently abated.
As the court finally announced the conviction and life sentences on Saturday evening, relatives and surviving family members present on the court premises expressed satisfaction with the verdict.
