Against Acquittal of Rape-Murder Accused
On 10 July 2012, an 8 year old minor Dalit girl Sanjana, hailing from Tiwarinagar village in Bindukhatta, Uttarakhand, was found raped and murdered. The accused was arrested after several days had passed and much pressure was built by way of protests by the party. The lower court found the accused in the murder case guilty and passed a death sentence on them. But on 8 October 2015 the High Court acquitted them for want of proper prosecution by the government. In protest, the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Mahasabha burnt the effigy of the Stat government in Bindukhatta on 9 October and demanded an answer by the government to the people for their failure to provide proper prosecution. Addressing the protesters, Kisan Mahasabha State President Com. Purushottam Sharma said that the Congress government in the State and the local MLA and Labour Minister Harish Durgapal are responsible for this. The government was deliberately negligent in the case through the government lawyer and ensured the acquittal of the accused. He said that this government is a government of criminals and mafia. The MLA is misusing power to provide protection to all the criminals in the area. He demanded that the State government should without delay file an appeal in the Supreme Court. Kisan Mahasabha team under the leadership of Com. Sharma also met the family of Sanjana and assured them that they would continue the fight for justice for Sanjana.
On the 10 October, the Kisan Mahasabha took out a march against the State government from Lalkuan, led by Com. Purushottam Sharma, district President Bahadur Singh Jangi, Bindukhatta President Basanti Bisht, and CPI (ML) district Secretary Kailash Pandey. The march started at Shaheed Smarak, went through Lalkuan bazaar, and culminated in a protest meeting at the Railway station. Addressing the meeting, Com. Purushottam held the State government and the local MLA responsible for shielding the guilty, and also questioned the suspicious role played by the government lawyer in the case, demanding an enquiry into his role and the authenticity of his degree. He said that the negligence shown by the lawyer, considered close to the Chief Minister, smacks of pressure from above. He stressed that it is the responsibility of the State government to ensure punishment to the guilty in this case, and the agitation would continue until justice is done to Sanjana.
The CPI (ML) has resolved to observe 12 October as Protest Day throughout the State to protest against the suspicious role of the State government and the Labour Minister Harish Durgapal in getting the guilty persons acquitted from the High Court. On 12 October the various units of the Party in the State will hold protests, marches, dharnas and effigy burnings.
