Noida: A district sessions court has sentenced nine members of an extended family to life imprisonment for gunning down two of their cousins during a dispute over an 18ft-wide passage in Badalpur in 2021.The court held that the killings were the result of an armed attack triggered by a long-running land feud and said the prosecution had proved the charges beyond reasonable doubt.Additional sessions judge Somprabha Mishra convicted the nine men of murder, attempt to murder, rioting and armed rioting, and imposed a cumulative fine of Rs 81,000 on each. The court ruled that while the case did not fall in the “rarest of rare” category, the evidence clearly established their role in the killings.Those convicted included five brothers — Devendra, Ravindra, Satendra, Dharmendra and Jitendra, sons of Harishchandra alias Hariya; Bhopal and Mahipal, sons of Jaipal; and Amarjeet and Amit, sons of Sevaram Bansal. All were handed two life terms under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC, along with punishment under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (armed rioting), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), and Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act.The case dates back to Feb 8, 2021, when a long-simmering family dispute over a shared passage in Girdharpur village under Badalpur police station spiralled into bloodshed.According to the prosecution, the accused had encroached on eight feet of land belonging to their uncle Narendra, leading to repeated confrontations. The matter was eventually taken to a village panchayat, and both sides were called for a settlement.But instead of attending the panchayat office, Devendra allegedly asked his cousins and panchayat members to gather at the disputed plot, where an excavator had already been brought in to mark the stretch he claimed belonged to him.The court said that when family members reached the spot, an argument broke out and the accused, who were already armed, opened fire indiscriminately.Suresh and Amit, two cousins who had come for the settlement, suffered gunshot wounds and were declared dead at hospital. Their uncle Prem suffered grievous firearm injuries, including a fractured jaw. The court also noted that Prem was later killed in a separate attack linked to the same dispute.The FIR was lodged following a complaint by Sunil, another family member, under Sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 307 and 504 of the IPC, along with Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act.Most of the accused were arrested the next day. Police later filed chargesheets against eight men, and the court framed charges on March 3, 2023. Amit Bansal’s name surfaced later, and charges against him were framed on Feb 13 this year.During trial, the prosecution examined 13 witnesses, including Narendra Kumar. The defence produced 10 witnesses and questioned delays in the FIR, witness statements and the motive itself.But the court relied on the testimony of witnesses, autopsy reports and injury records, holding that the defence failed to discredit the prosecution’s case.“The defence failed to contradict the testimony of the witnesses,” the court observed, concluding that the killings were a direct outcome of the land dispute and armed confrontation.
