Muzaffarnagar, Sep 26 Seven persons were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court here on Saturday, 26 years after a man was shot dead and several others were injured in violence stemming from an old rivalry over panchayat elections in Dhiraheri village.
Additional District Judge (FTC) (crime against women) Jyotsna Siwach held Basant, husband of a former village head, along with Anil, Ravinder, Nawab, Sanjiv, Pankaj and Preetam guilty in the 2000 Dhiraheri violence case and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.87 lakh each on the seven convicts after holding them guilty under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (every member of an unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of the common object) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code.
The court directed that 50 per cent of the fine amount be given to the family of the victim.
Two other accused, Gulbir and Omvir, were acquitted due to lack of evidence, while another accused, Dhum Singh, died during the pendency of the case.
Government lawyer Arun Kumar Jawla told PTI that Ravinder was shot dead and several others injured when two groups clashed over old enmity stemming from panchayat elections in Dhiraheri village under Bhopa police station in Muzaffarnagar district on September 20, 2000.
Police had filed a chargesheet against 10 persons in connection with the case.
(PTI News)
