Allahabad high court convicts 2 men after four decades

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has convicted two men guilty in a 1984 murder case, setting aside their earlier acquittal after more than four decades, officials said.

A division bench of Justices Rajneesh Kumar and Babita Rani on Monday allowed the state government’s appeal and convicted the accused under Section 304 of the IPC for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The court directed that the two surviving accused be taken into custody and presented before it on May 11 to decide the quantum of sentence.

The case originally involved four accused, all of whom were acquitted by a trial court in 1986 on the grounds of self-defence. However, two of them died during the pendency of the appeal, leaving the remaining two to face the High Court’s judgment.

The case dates back to June 15, 1984, in the Maakhi police station area of Unnao district. According to the prosecution, the victim, Jamuna Prasad, was building a drain on the roof of his house when the accused — Tulsi Ram, Laxmi Narayan, Jagat Pal and Harnam — objected, leading to a dispute.

The argument soon turned violent, and the accused allegedly assaulted Jamuna Prasad and his brother Amrit Lal with sticks and spears. Jamuna Prasad later died from his injuries on the way to hospital.

The trial court had earlier acquitted the accused, stating that they acted in self-defence as they had also suffered injuries, which the prosecution could not explain.

Rejecting this argument, the High Court said that taking a person’s life over a minor issue like water drainage cannot be justified as self-defence and described the trial court’s findings as "completely flawed", according to the order.