Apex court issues notices to accused in Tsundur dalits’ massacre case
High Court had acquitted all the accused in the case in April 2014
Hyderabad: The country’s first-ever special court set up for trying a case under the SC/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, had delivered the judgement in August 2007 by sentencing 21 accused to life imprisonment and 35 others to one-year rigorous imprisonment and penalty of Rs 2000 each in the case.
The special court had acquitted 123 out of the 179 accused and in the case of 41 accused, the court had not found any evidence, while 62 of them were released on benefit of doubt. The other 20 were let off due to omission of evidence or having only single witnesses.
While acquitting the case, the HC Bench had pointed out that the prosecution had failed to prove the exact time and place of death and the identity of the attackers. Following a massive protest from
Dalit organisations, the Andhra Pradesh Government has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in Supreme Court challenging the High Court's verdict of acquitting the 56 accused in the Tsundur massacre case.
A special team of legal counsels comprising senior designated counsel M.N. Rao, senior counsel A. Ramesh, assistant senior counsel V. Raghunath, advocate on record, Supreme Court, Uday Sagar and senior counsel Bojja Tarakam and HC advocate V. Raghunath has been appointed as special prosecutors to argue the case before the apex court.
The government, in its appeal, had contended that the High Court had failed to appreciate the grounds, which the special court had relied upon to convict the accused. The government argued that certain simple lapses from the side of the prosecution in probing cases of high magnitude should be overlooked in the interest of justice.
The apex court stayed all further proceedings in the cases related to the Tsundur massacre, including the appeals by the accused before the High Court and the cases by the family members of the victims challenging the judgement of the special court in acquitting certain accused from the cases and also challenging the non sufficient punishment issued by the special court.
The Supreme Court stayed further proceedings in the case for four weeks and issued notices to the accused and others related in the case.