Ahmednagar court acquits all nine men in Dalit youth’s murder case for lack of evidence
The 17-year-old youth was murdered for allegedly talking to an upper caste girl on April 28, 2014.
A court in Ahmednagar, on Thursday, acquitted all nine accused in the murder case of Nitin Aage, a Dalit youth from Kharkha in Jamkhed tehsil of Ahmednagar district, for lack of evidence.
The 17-year-old youth was murdered for allegedly talking to an upper caste girl on April 28, 2014.
The verdict comes a week after three men were convicted for rape and murder of 14-year-old girl belonging to an upper caste Maratha community. In his order, district judge CW Hood observed that there is no strong evidence against the nine arrested persons and therefore, they should be acquitted.
According to the first information report (FIR), Aage was found hanging from a tree after he was beaten up by unidentified persons on multiple occasions.
The postmortem report also clearly indicated burn injuries on Aage’s head and private parts. His face was also brutally thrashed.
Following the incident, police arrested the girl’s brother Sachin Golekar, his uncle and others on the charges of murder and relevant Sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Defence counsel Manik More said there were contradictions between documentary details and oral statements of victims.
“The witnesses produced by the prosecution were speaking contradictory to what was produced as documentary evidence by the prosecution.
“Based on this, the judge acquitted all the nine persons,” said More.
On November 18, a sessions court in Ahmednagar convicted three for rape and murder of minor from Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district.
The incident that occurred on July 13, 2016, had triggered massive protests across the state from Maratha community, which among other things, demanded the repeal of Atrocities Act.