Suri District Court has pronounced life imprisonment to 13 persons today in connection with the massacre of nine people, who have been burnt and hacked to death in Kotgram village in Mayureswar in Birbhum district after 44 years of the incident.
The district court pronounced them guilty a few days ago but has not announced the quantum of punishment. Somenath Mukherjee, the advocate who appeared for the accused has said that they will move to higher court, challenging this Suri District Court judgement.
On 8 August 1981, six members of a family and three others accomplices were chased by the villagers of Kotgram in Mayureswar after a dispute during a cultural function in the village.
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The nine villagers rushed to take shelter in one house as tension mounted. The villagers sprayed chilli powder in their eyes, hacked them and poured kerosene and burnt them to ensure that they are dead.
The dastardly act rocked the nation at that time and Birbhum police started investigations. An FIR was lodged against 72 people, out of which, 52 are still alive.
Out of these 52 people, 13 are found guilty, the court is yet to pronounce its decision on the 39 other accused persons.
Moloy Mukherjee, the government pleader in this case said that at last the victims of this massacre case have got some justice from the court after so many decades. He said that some of the victims have died over the years; some went to the high court and the investigating officer also was not present on many occasions during the trial of the case, leading to such delay in giving judgement in the district court.
S M Badaruzaman, a family member of one of the victims, said that all of them were killed brutally. They went and arranged a cultural show in the village for their sick sister and were killed by other villagers after some major altercation. “We are happy that at last the court has found them guilty,” he said.
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