SC agrees to hear Bihar govt’s plea against acquittals in Senari massacre case

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine an appeal by the Bihar government against the Patna High Court’s judgment which acquitted 14 people convicted for the infamous Senari massacre in which 34 people were killed allegedly by Maoist groups in 1999

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine an appeal by the Bihar government against the Patna High Court’s judgment which acquitted 14 people convicted for the infamous Senari massacre in which 34 people were killed allegedly by Maoist groups in 1999.

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A bench comprising Justices Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari issued notices to all 14 acquitted by the HC on May 21 this year.

The state government, through its counsel Abhinav Mukerji, has challenged the HC order while arguing that it did not consider the testimonies of 23 eyewitnesses, of which 13 are those who lost their family members and three who were themselves injured in the incident.

After nearly 17 years of trial, a Jehanabad court had held 14 accused guilty and sentenced 11 of them to death and three to life imprisonment in two separate judgments delivered on November 15 and November 18, 2016.

Altogether 34 men were allegedly dragged out of their homes by the armed members of the outlawed and now-defunct Maoist group Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) in Senari village of Jehanabad district (now in Arwal) on the night of March 18, 1999, by the assailants wearing police uniform.

It was widely believed that the MCC had struck at Senari to avenge the killing of more than 60 of its alleged sympathisers at Laxmanpur Bathe less than two years ago, when the dreaded Ranvir Sena, a militia of upper castes, had carried out the worst ever carnage in the history of the state.