Jharkhand High Court on Thursday acquitted the death sentence of four alleged Maoists for opening fire on spectators of football match in Giridih on October 2007 in which former chief minister Babulal Marandi’s son and 18 others were killed.
Giridih sessions judge Indra Deo terming the incident” rarest of rare cases” and convicted the four accused - Jeetan Marandi, Manoj Rajwar, Anil Ram and Chhatrapti Mandal for murder, theft, unlawful assembly, conspiracy under various sections of the Arms Act and Criminal Law
Amendment Act and awarded a death penalty after a three-year-long trial in which over 20 witnesses were examined.
A division bench of justices R K Merathia and P P Bhatt heard the appeals filed by the accused and gave them the “benefit of doubt”, citing “lack of evidence” on the part of the prosecution to confirm the death sentence awarded by Giridih sessions judge on June 22. The bench observed that the prosecution had failed to bring about a strong case against the accused.
