Dalit youth murder: Maharashtra government to challenge acquittal of accused

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the state government will file an appeal in the sessions court for action against the witness who had turned hostile

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the state government will file an appeal in the sessions court for action against the witness who had turned hostile in the murder of 17-year-old Dalit youth Nitin Aage, as well as challenge the acquittal of the accused.

Aage, a class nine student, was murdered in April 2014 in Kharde village of Ahmednagar district. He was killed over a purported love affair with an upper caste girl, allegedly by the latter’s kin. Last month, all the nine accused in the case were acquitted after 13 of the 26 witnesses turned hostile.

Fadnavis met Nitin’s father Raju Aage in Mumbai on Monday and assured him of justice. “The government will file an appeal in the sessions court for action against the hostile witnesses as well as challenge the acquittal in the High Court,” Fadnavis said after meeting family members of victim in Mumbai.

In this case, the caste equation is poised exactly opposite of what was in the case of the brutal rape and murder of a 14-year-old Maratha girl by three Dalit men in Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district. The Kopardi case, in which the three accused were recently sentenced to death, had rocked the Maharashtra government.