Lucknow: A special SC/ST court in Barabanki on Monday sentenced 12 people to life imprisonment for their involvement in a caste-based gang war in Saraitha village under Barabanki (now part of Ayodhya) following the 2007 panchayat elections.The court of ADJ Veena Narayan also sent 5 others to 3 years’ imprisonment. They were also imposed a penalty of Rs 68,000 each. The 12 individuals included Ajay Singh, Jagannath Singh, Vinod Singh, Krishna Magan Singh, Sahjram Singh, Karuna Shankar Singh, Sanjay Mishra, Sahab Baksh Singh, Munna Singh, Mukut Singh, Pramod Kumar Singh and Rakesh Kumar Tiwari. They were sentenced under section 148 IPC (rioting armed with deadly weapons), section 307 read with 149 IPC (attempt to murder by an unlawful assembly), section 436 read with 149 IPC (mischief by fire committed by a group), section 504 IPC (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), section 506 IPC (criminal intimidation), and section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act (committing a serious offence against a member of a scheduled caste/scheduled tribe on the basis of caste). Those who got three years imprisonment were Ramsingh, Mansharam, Amresh Kumar Yadav, Nankau and Sarvajeet.Complainant Krishna Magan Singh—who won 2007 village head elections—said the violence stemmed from political and caste-based rivalry. Krishna alleged that the losing candidate Ajay Singh and his associates held a grudge after Krishna initiated proceedings to cancel the licence of a local ration dealer.On March 4, 2007, the complainant and his relative Mansaram were at a tea stall when a verbal altercation broke out with Ajay Singh and Sahjram. A few hours later, over a dozen armed men stormed Krishna’s home hurling caste-based slurs and issuing death threats.They assaulted Krishna’s family members—Chet Ram, Sundarlal, Durbari, Ramsingh, Lalaram, Milan and Nanku and set afire a house belonging to Ramsingh. Chet Ram later succumbed to his injuries.Both sides filed FIRs against each other. During the long trial, four accused died. Three accused — Umeshwar Pratap Singh, Bhairav Baks Singh and Shankar Baks Singh — were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
