We lived to see this day when justice was imparted: Kin of Dehuli massacre victims
After the court awarded death sentence to three convicts, the villagers celebrated the day and garlanded the portrait of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar
AGRA Aggrieved people, who lost their kin in the 1981 Dehuli massacre in the present-day Jasrana of Firozabad district, finally got justice after a long wait of over four decades when a special court in Mainpuri on Tuesday sentenced three persons to death in the violence that saw 24 Dalits, including women and two children, being killed.
The villagers fought the case in Mainpuri court (Dehuli village was part of Mainpuri district in 1981) and also in Allahabad, where the trial took place for four decades. When the verdict came, they celebrated the day and garlanded the portrait of Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.
Banwari and Bhoop Singh, two villagers, were lauded for their long drawn struggle as they stood with the evidence they provided to the court when examined as witnesses.
“Hearing gunshots, we moved towards an open area outside the village and found all lost when we returned. Since then, we have lived under fear...but the judgement today has brought us justice,” said Amrit Lal, in his seventies, who lost a dozen of his family members on the fateful day 44 years ago.
Bhoop Singh, 86, a witness to the incident, said: “It seems that I lived to see this day when justice was imparted to us by court.”
“Those who managed to flee the village were saved, but others caught by attackers got no chance to survive. I lost my husband, Jwala Prasad, amongst four family members killed that day,” lamented Jai Devi.
Chameli Devi, another eyewitness, fractured both legs while attempting to jump from the roof and lay on the ground when the massacre took place and saw so many killed in front of her.
Banwari Lal, another villager, recollects that his father Jwala Prasad was amongst those shot dead. “Anybody coming in front of the attackers was being shot dead. I also lost two of my brothers and then they (dacoits) entered my uncle’s house and shot him dead,” he said.
“Death sentence to three convicts is the reward we got for the long-drawn fight for justice. We lost patience time and again, but waited for this day, which came on Tuesday,” said Nirmala Devi, another villager.