16 awarded death for killing 58 villagers in Bihar

A local court in Bihar has awarded death sentence to 16 persons for the massacre of 58 poor villagers 13 years back.

The judgement was delivered by the additional district judge Vijay Prakash Mishra.

The court also awarded life impriosonment to 10 other convicts in the case.

There was a total of 46 accused in the case of which 26 were convicted by the court.

Altogether 58 people, all belonging to dalit family, had been gunned down in a daring attack at Laxmanpur-Bathe village in Arwal district on December 1, 1997 by a private militia of landlords called Ranvir Sena as a fallout of ongoing caste riots in Bihar.

“We will move the upper court for appeal”, said the defence lawyer.