Phoolan Devi, the main accused, was killed in 2001 in Delhi and 14 other accused persons have died during the period of trial.
Representational Image (Photo: IANS)
A special court in Kanpur on Saturday put off its verdict to January 24 in the absence of the case diary in the massacre of 20 people in Behmai village in the district allegedly by bandit Phoolan Devi nearly four decades ago.
Special judge Sudhir Kumar, who was likely to pronounce the verdict on Saturday, pulled up the court official for the absence of the case diary at the time of delivering the verdict and asked him to place it before the court on January 24.
Earlier, on January 6 as well, the Kanpur trial court had postponed the much-awaited verdict on the massacre that took place 39 years ago. The verdict was postponed to January 18.
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District government counsel Raju Porwal said that the counsel for the Posha, an accused, had sought some time to present written arguments and the court directed him to present the same by January 16 after which the verdict will be delivered on January 18.
The counsel for the accused Girish Narain Dubey said that he had sought time to present some crucial documents in court.
The Behmai massacre that shook the country took place on February 14, 1981 when the then bandit queen Phoolan Devi gunned down 20 Thakurs of the Behmai village in Kanpur Dehat.
The killings were a revenge on the Thakur community after two Thakurs – Lala Ram and Sri Ram raped Phoolan Devi and killed her paramour Vikram Mallah.
The killings also led to political fallout, with the then UP chief minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh resigned, owning moral responsibility for the massacre.
Phoolan Devi, the main accused, was killed in 2001 in Delhi and 14 other accused persons have died during the period of trial.
Charges were framed against the accused in 2012 in the special court.
The government counsel said that of the four accused who are alive, three – Bhikha, Shyam Babu and Vishwanath – are out on bail while Posha is still in jail.
Three other accused, namely, Vishwanath, Ramkesh and Maan Singh are still absconding even after 39 years.
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