Jaipur: A special court dealing with communal riot cases under the jurisdiction of the Rajasthan High Court Friday acquitted 14 accused in a 25-year-old double murder case arising out of the communal riots that took place on July 10, 2000, in the Malpura police station area of Tonk district.Special Judge Shweta Gupta granted the accused the benefit of doubt, observing that the “prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt”. The court described the evidence presented by the prosecution as “incomplete, doubtful, unreliable, and inconsistent with the factual matrix of the case”. The acquitted accused include Ram Prasad, Ratanlal, Ramswaroop, Devkaran, Shyojiram, Ram Kishore, Sukhlal, Chhotu, Bachhraj, Kistur, Hiralal, Satyanarayan, Kishanlal, and another person also named Kishanlal, all residents of Malpura-Tonk. The defence counsels VK Bali and Sonal Dadhich argued that the police investigation failed to establish any direct or indirect link between the accused and the crime. “No weapons were recovered from the accused, no test identification parade was conducted, and the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team did not visit the alleged crime scene,” Bali argued. The court also noted that the presence of the accused at the spot could not be established, the attackers covered their faces, and witnesses failed to identify them. Significant contradictions were found in witness statements, and the existence of multiple persons with similar names in the village further complicated the investigation. The case relates to the killing of 10-year-old Jumma and 14-year-old Bunty alias Ishaq, who went to graze goats in a forest area. A complaint was lodged on July 11, 2000, by their relative Rustam Khan, alleging that members of a particular community murdered the children. Police filed a chargesheet against 22 accused; 5 were discharged by the High Court in 2016, 1 was declared a juvenile, and 1 since died.
