A court in Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday sentenced the convicts in the communal violence case of October 2024, in which one Ram Gopal Mishra was murdered. The prime accused named Sarfaraz alias Rinku has been sentenced to death by the Additional sessions judge (First) Pawan Kumar.
10 people were found guilty by the court yesterday, and they were sentenced today. While Sarfaraz has been sentenced to death for shooting Ram Gopal Mishra dead, the nine others have been sentenced life imprisonment. Sarfaraz’s father Abdul Hameed, and his two brothers, Faheem and Talib alias Sabloo, are among the convicts.
The other accused convicted are Saif, Javed, Zeeshan, Nankau, Shoaib, and Maruf. However, three others were acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence, they are Khurshid, Shakeel, and Afzal.
The accused were charged under Section 103(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), apart from sections 191(2), 191(3), 190, 109(2), 249, 61(2), and the Section 30 of the Arms Act.
The verdict in the case came 14 months after the incident in October last year.
The incident took place during the Durga idol immersion procession in Rehua Mansoor village in the Hardi police station area of Bahraich on 13th October, 2024. Muslims in the area had protested against the music played in the immersion procession, resulting in a clash. During the violence, Ram Gopal Mishra was accused of climbing onto a roof and removing green flags hoisted there.
Moments later, he was shot dead by Sarfaraz alias Rinku. Several other Hindu devotees were injured in the stone pelting by the Muslim mob. The Durga puja idols heading for immersion were also damaged in the stone pelting. In retaliatory violence, the Hindus had also vandalised the houses and shops in the area.
In the investigation, police had identified the major culprits and arrested 13 accused. National Security Act was imposed against five accused, including Abdul Hameed, Mohammad Talib alias Sabloo, Mohammad Sarfaraz Ahmed alias Rinku, Shakeel Ahmed alias Bablu and Khurshid. Later NSA was imposed on the other 8 accused.
A total of 13 FIRs were registered in the case, 11 at Hardi police station and two at Ramgaon police station.