Murdered Dalit youth's kin seek retrial

Mumbai: A criminal Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay high court seeking directions to the trial court to conduct a retrial of the honour killing of a 17-year old boy belonging to the Dalit community. The petition filed by the parents of Nitin Aage, the victim, has prayed for the retrial to be held in a special fast track court in Mumbai. It has also asked for protection to be provided to the parents, the witnesses, as well as action to be taken against those who helped in the acquittal of the accused.

The case has assumed political significance following protests by the Republican Party of India accusing the government of not doing enough to bring the accused to book, and the assurance given by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to the victim’s parents of challenging the acquittal.

According to advocate Nitin Satpute, who filed the criminal PIL seeking a writ of mandamus and quashing the Ahmednagar trial court judgement on behalf of the parents, there were many flaws in the trial. The fact that witnesses, namely the school teachers and staff who witnessed Aage being dragged out of the classroom by goons and subsequently being thrashed and killed, turning hostile had allowed the accused to be acquitted.

Apart from seeking a retrial in Mumbai, the petition further sought action against the principal and staff of the school for allowing the victim to be taken out of the school as well as against the judge of the trial court under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Incidentally, the case is exactly opposite of the Kopardi case in which three of the accused belonging to the Dalit community had been sentenced to death for raping and murdering a girl belonging to an upper caste.