A special SC/ST court on Thursday sentenced the prime accused in the infamous case of Hathras where a Dalit girl was raped and murdered to life imprisonment.

Special judge Trilok Pal Singh, while acquitting three other accused, sentenced the main accused Sandeep after his conviction in the case and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him.

The verdict came after 900 days of the incident which rocked the entire country. The crime was touted to be the second Nirbhaya incident.

Congress leaders, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Chandrashekhar Azad of Bhim Army along with leaders from all over the country and people associated with different organisations had thronged the victim’s village to show solidarity with the bereaved family of the victim.

Mahipal Singh Nimhotra, advocate of the victim, said that the SC-ST court has found Sandeep guilty under Section 304 of IPC and SC-ST Act in the Hathras incident that took place on September 14, 2020.

The other accused, Lavkush, Ramu and Ravi, were acquitted by the court due to lack of evidence. Nimhotra said that the family of the victim is not satisfied with the court’s verdict and will approach the high court against this decision.

On 14 September 2020, a Scheduled Caste girl was raped in a Boolgarhi village of the Chandpa area in the Hathras district. It was alleged that four youths of the village had gang raped her before trying to kill her.

The victim had gone to the fields with her mother when the miscreants of the village dragged her into the fields. After committing the rape, the accused broke her hands and neck and chopped off her tongue.

On September 29, 2020, the girl succumbed at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi after fighting for 15 days. On the basis of the statement of the girl, the police had arrested the four accused Sandeep, Ravi, Ramu and Lavkush.

The case was investigated by the CBI. The investigation agency had filed a chargesheet against the four accused, Sandeep, Ravi, Ramu and Lavkush, in the court of the Special Judge (SC-ST Act) under sections 302, 376A, 376D, and SC-ACT Act on December 18, 2020. The first hearing in the case took place on January 4, 2021. The CBI had produced as many as 104 witnesses, of which 35  deposed before the court.