We Demand Government of India to take all the possible steps to review Judgment of clean acquittal of accused in Tsundur dalits massacre case and prefer an Appeal against this arbitrary Judgment
Please read the text of the petition below and sign it at this Change.org page.
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Text of the petition
To
The President of India,
Government of India,
New Delhi.
Your Excellency,
Is Justice a Mirage for “Dalits” in India? Judgment of A.P. High Court once again proved it.
Sub:- Registering Protest against the acquittal of all the Accused in TSunduru Carnage by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh – Justice eludes Scheduled Caste people in our Country – Review of the Judgment – Requested – Regarding.
Ref:- 1) On 6-8-1991 there was a Carnage against Scheduled Caste
people in Tsunduru village, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, in which 8 Dalits were brutally killed, several Dalits were injured .
2) Special Court examined 71 Witnesses and convicted 21 Persons of Life Imprisonment and 35 persons were sentenced to One Year Imprisonment.
3) The Bench comprising Justice L. Narasimha Reddy and M.S.K Jaiswal acquitted all the Accused and Delivered Judgment on 22-4-2014.
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It is submitted that in Tsunduru village of Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, on 6-8-1991 Forward Caste Community people formed into unlawful assembly and raided on the houses of Scheduled Caste people and brutally killed 8 Scheduled Caste people and Wounded several Dalits. The said incident sparked Nation-wide uproar. All the cross-sections of society condemned such brutal killings.
It is submitted that basing on the seriousness of case, the Government of A.P. Constituted Special Court in T. Sunduru and conducted trial. The Special Court examined 71 witnesses and convicted 21 persons of Life Imprisonment and 35 persons were sentenced to One Year Imprisonment.
It is submitted that on 22-4-2014 the Division Bench of High Court of Andhra Pradesh comprising Justice L. Narasimha Reddy and M.S.K Jaiswal acquitted all the Accused involved in the incident, on the ground that the Prosecution failed to establish the case against the said Accused.
It is submitted that the Judgment of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh came as a shock to all the Dalits in India, as when 8 Dalits were brutally killed and several Dalits of T. Sunduru were critically injured, the system in our India instead of convicting the offenders, left the offenders scot-free, giving a message to the society that even deliberate Carnages perpetrated by the forward Caste
People against Dalits would be taken lightly and such heinous acts of the offenders would never be treated seriously and they would be scot-free on lame excuses.
It is submitted that if the Courts adopt liberal attitude in not punishing the guilty and adopting casual attitude in dealing with serious cases, a strong message will be sent to the society that justice would be a cloister virtue to Dalits in this country.
It is submitted that despite the volume-ness evidence placed against the offenders establishing their guilt, we think the Judgment delivered by High Court of AP acquitting all the Accused is not at all in the right direction and it is not at all proper and just and reasonable. The said Judgment certainly not in consonance with the principles of law and the Court Delivered the said Judgment without taking into consideration of the seriousness of the case and deliberate and inhuman Carnage perpetrated by the offenders.
It is submitted that before Delivering Judgment there was a suspicion expressed on the Bench before whom the Case was placed. But when the bench issued Contempt Notices, the voice of resentment expressed against the Bench, expressing no confidence was silenced. The apprehensions raised by the persons before the said Bench came as a realty in giving clean acquittal in the said case.
It is submitted that people of India are still reposing confidence in the system of judiciary by placing the judiciary in the highest pedestal. The Judgment of this sort without taking into consideration of the brutal killings perpetrated by the offenders and without taking into consideration the grave incriminating material laid against the offenders, the Bench gave a clean acquittal of the accused, by pointing out certain minor lapses, which are bound to occur in any other criminal cases.
It is submitted that while delivering the said Judgment of Acquittal, the said bench exhibited lip sympathy by directing the Superintendent of Police, Guntur Rural to take steps preventing celebrations or protests in T. Sunduru and Modukuru, atleast for 3 months. While acquitting all the accused, the Bench shown lip sympathy that 8 innocents from Dalit Community lost their lives and their families were completely ruined. The Bench also shown lip sympathy by saying that the help rendered by the Government could not remove the agony of the family members of the deceased. The Bench instead of adopting judicious approach made comments as a Philosopher that every endeavor must be made by the persons and organizations to inculcate human values and mutual respect. The victims and the families of the victims do not require such lip sympathies and empty comments of any philosopher. The Court instead of confirming the conviction of the offenders resorted to hairsplitting methods and based its Judgment of acquittal on the procedural irregularities. The Bench while acquitting all the Accused made a comment that there was no complaint from any quarter in the said case, without minding for the fact that the perpetrators of the offence created such a terror among Dalits of the said village that they could not come forward to lodge a complaint. Merely because there was no complaint from the victims or Dalits of the village, we cannot shut our eyes and shut our mouth and say that no carnage had taken place despite the fact that 8 innocents were brutally killed and several hundreds of people were injured.
It is submitted that when the victims expressed no confidence in the Bench expecting this result, it is not at all justifiable on the part of the bench to dealt with the case by showing the weapon of Contempt of Court silencing the expressions of resentment. When the victim or representatives of the victims
Suspect rats, it is minimum expected that the institutions or persons manning the Institutions should maintain distance from such exercises to create confidence in the minds of the people. The arbitrary acts of the persons holding high positions will certainly neutralize the prestige and respect of the Institution.
It is submitted that with the Judgment of Clean acquittal in 8 T. Sunduru killings Dalits in this country once again forced to feel that justice still eludesr them and even Courts of law are no exception. To remedy in the situation and to create a sense of confidence among Dalits of this country, the Judgment of clean acquittal should be reviewed. If the Bench feels that there are serious infirmities in the case and procedural errors in the case, the Bench ought to have pointed out them by taking stern action against the investigating agencies and prosecuting agencies for framing such meek case, in respect of a Carnage wherein 8 innocent Dalits were brutally done to death. At any rate the Judgment of acquittal is not at all correct and the same is liable to be set aside.
It is submitted that we hereby register our protests for the arbitrary exercise of powers by the Bench who delivered the Judgment of acquittal and we demand for the review of the Judgment or for making Appeal to the Supreme Court immediately by taking the offenders into custody immediately as this type of clean acquittals in Carnages like this, will certainly reduces the dignity and decorum attached to the judicial institution
Hence, we hereby demand the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Government of India to take all the possible steps either to review this Judgment of clean acquittal of accused in Tsundur dalits massacres case or prefer an Appeal against this arbitrary Judgment of acquittal and take steps for the immediate arrest of all the offenders involved in the Carnage and take all other necessary steps for delivery of justice without resorting to hairsplitting mechanism basing on illusions and surmises.
We also demand a CBI inquiry on the way the proceedings happened in AP High Court on Tsundur Case, as there were many doubts, it is important to uphold the integrity of judiciary system in this country
We finally express our resentment that the Dalits in our country don’t require any limp sympathy or Philosophical words from anybody much less he persons holding positions in Judiciary as we also understand and read the happening behind the curtains.
Yours sincerely,
Bethala Sudarsan.
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[Via Karthik Navayan]
