Gir Somnath, March 16 A special court in Veraval, in Gujarat's Gir Somnath district, on Monday convicted five people and acquitted 35 others in the 2016 Una flogging case, in which four Dalit men were beaten for trying to skin the carcass of a cow, triggering massive protests across the country at the time.
The court, which deals with special cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and the additional district and sessions judge, JJ Pandya, convicted five accused and acquitted 35 others. The case against a police officer was dropped as he died during the pendency of the trial, district government lawyer Ketansinh Vala said, adding that the court reserved its sentencing order for Tuesday.
The five accused were convicted under sections 323 (causing simple hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 504 (intentional insult) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as sections 3 (1)(D) and 3 (1)(E)(R)(S)(U) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he said.
The court did not convict them under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 397 (robbery), 365 (kidnapping), 147 (rioting), 355 (assault to dishonour a person), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy), he added.
Those convicted in the case are Ramesh Jadhav, Rakesh Joshi, Nagji Vaniya, Pramodgiri Goswami, and Balwatgiri Goswami, while judgment against a juvenile is pending, Vala said. The court examined around 260 witnesses during the course of the trial, he said.
The incident occurred at Mota Samadhiyala village near the town of Una in the Gir-Somnath district on July 11, 2016, when four Dalit youths, as part of their traditional profession, were skinning the carcass of a cow that had died earlier in another village.
The accused, who claimed to be vigilantes, beat up the youths, who were then illegally detained and further beaten by police personnel. It was alleged that the four Dalits were beaten for almost 4-5 hours. Police were allegedly involved in the incident and forged some FIR-related documents to help the perpetrators.
Villagers from nearby areas attempted to rescue the Dalit youths, but were threatened by the accused. The villagers then called the police control rooms in Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad.
The accused were also charged under sections 66A and 66B of the Information Technology Act for allegedly making and circulating video clips of the incident.
The incident caused widespread unrest against vigilantes after the videos of the flogging went viral. Protests were held in various parts of Gujarat and the country.