HC strikes down all sentences

• 21 were given life term and 30 one year jail by a special court
• HC says that evidence against the accused lacks credibility
• Observes not a single complaint was submitted by anyone
• Bans celebrations and protests in wake of its judgement

Hyderabad: A division bench of the AP High Court comprising Justice L Narasimha Reddy and Justice M S K Jaiswal on Tuesday set aside the conviction against all the accused in the Tsunduru murder carnage which resulted in the death of eight local Dalits in Guntur district.

The tragedy that hit the Harijanwada in August 1991 shook up the State. Eight Dalits were killed and many others injured in attacks allegedly by upper caste people on Aug 6, 1991, in Tsunduru village in Guntur district. The houses of Dalits were looted and set afire and many families were forced to flee from Tsunduru and adjoining villages.

In an unprecedented move, a Special Court was constituted to try the case. Police filed charge-sheets against 219 people, of whom 33 died during the course of the trial and seven were let off as police did not find any evidence against them.

In 2007, the special court sentenced 21 to life imprisonment and 35 others to one year's rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 each, convicting them for the massacre.

The court set up under the SC/STs Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, held 56 people guilty but acquitted 123 others for lack of evidence.

Allowing the batch of appeals, the High Court bench appealed to the all warring groups to bury the hatchet. “Every endeavour must be made by the elderly persons as well as the organisations that are active in the village to inculcate human values and mutual respect towards each other in the village,” it said.

While acquitting the accused persons, the HC bench pointed out that not a single complaint was submitted by anyone in relation to the eight deaths. Added to that, statements recorded by the police as constituting the basis for registration of crimes and issuance of FIRs were retracted by the respective witnesses.

“PW 15, who has furnished the names of about 100 to 120 persons as the attackers or chasers admitted that he cannot give the names of at least 10 persons of their community, who were just proceeding before him. That would tell upon the reliability of the information given by him. Further, he is said to have swum about 3 km that too against the flow in the new canal even after receiving serious injuries,” Justice Narasimha Reddy added in the course of rejecting the evidence on record on the ground that the evidence lacked creditability.

The bench held that the prosecution failed to prove the time of the death of the deceased and place of occurrence and the identity of the persons who attacked them. “The Superintendent of Police, Guntur Rural, shall also ensure that no celebrations or protests in the villages of Tsunduru and Modukuru in the wake of this judgment take place, at least for a period of three months and utmost vigilance to be kept on the villages,” the bench concluded. Guntur superintendent of police Satyanarayana said the high court order would be challenged in the Supreme Court. Several Dalit organisations have also reacted strongly to the high court order. They plan to challenge the high court order in the apex court.