Life Imprisonment to the Chief Bhagalpur Riots Accused
Bhagalpur: Nov. 27, 2007
Bhagalpur Additional District and Sessions Judge Shambhunath Mishra on Tuesday, four days after finding him guilty in the 1989 Bhagalpur riot case, sentenced Kameshwar Yadav to life imprisonment causing an uproar outside the court where his supporters clashed with the police forcing the law enforcement officials to chase them out of the court premises.
The court held Yadav guilty of inciting violence, killing one person, kidnapping, attempt to destroy evidence, possession of illegal firearms, and organizing unlawful assembly.
It may be recalled that the previous Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) government had swept the cases against the Bhagalpur riot accused under the rug saying there were not enough evidence against them.
The cases were later reopened by the current NDA government.
14 people have already been sentenced to life imprisonment for their roles in the riot that left 116 Muslims dead.
Earlier on July 7, the District and Sessions Court had handed life imprisonment to 14 people for their role in the riots.
The security outside the court as well as some sensitive areas in Bhagalpur was as tight as it could be considering the large number of Yadav's supporters anxiously waiting to hear the quantum of his punishment. That, however, did not stop Yadav's supporters to chant anti-Nitish and anti-Shahnawaz Hussain slogans and tear up and deface their posters and pictures.
The police resorted to mild lathi charge to disperse the crowd at the main chowk One shopkeeper was reported injured after Yadav's supporters beat him up for refusing to down his shutter.
Senior police officials continue to monitor the situation to deal with any untoward incident.
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