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‘Did a ghost kill our kids?’: Nithari victim families question after Supreme Court acquits Surendra Koli
Surendra Koli was acquitted in a single case in which his life sentence still stood. He was accused of helping Mohinder Singh Pandher in the Nithari killings.
The families of the deceased children in the Nithari killings have questioned the release of accused Surendra Koli after the Supreme Court acquitted him of the charges on Tuesday, asking if “a ghost” killed their kids.
Koli was acquitted in a single case in which his life sentence still stood. He was accused of helping Mohinder Singh Pandher, who was acquitted earlier, with the killings.
"We were pained when Pandher (Moninder Singh Pandher) was acquitted...Pandher had admitted to his crime before the Police. If Koli (Surendra Koli) is not responsible for it, if Pandher is not responsible for it, why were they jailed for all these years? In that case, those who jailed him should be hanged. If they are not the perpetrators, who is?" the father of a deceased kid said after the verdict.
Another victim's family asked who was guilty if Mohinder Pandher and Surendra Koli didn't kill their children.
"Moninder (Moninder Singh Pandher) and Surendra (Surendra Koli) killed so many children. But nothing is being done about the case. Who is guilty now? Was there a ghost in that house which killed all the children? They used to kill children and indulge in organ trafficking. Now they say that they are innocent. Law is letting them go; God won't," a mother of a child said.
The case stems from the serial killings that happened in Noida’s Sector-31 near Nithari village between 2005 and 2006.
Also read: 'Who killed our kids?', ask Nithari victims' families as Surendra Koli acquitted
Supreme Court verdict in the Nithari killings case
The Supreme Court acquitted Koli in the sole case in which his conviction and life sentence still stood, holding that the 2011 verdict could not be sustained when he had already been acquitted in 12 other connected cases arising from the same set of facts and evidence.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai and justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath said that maintaining Koli’s conviction in just one case, after the top court itself had set aside his conviction in all other cases based on identical material, would be anomalous and unjust.
“The petitioner be released forthwith, if not wanted in any other case. The jail superintendent is to be informed of this judgment immediately” said Justice Nath, delivering the verdict for the bench.
The court had, on October 7, indicated that such a result would amount to a “travesty of justice,” before reserving its verdict on Koli’s curative petition-- his last judicial remedy. Koli was represented in the court through senior counsel Yug Mohit Chaudhary and advocate Payoshi Roy.
