A court has sentenced 8 Muslim rioters to life imprisonment in the murder case of farmer Hariram. The incident transpired in the year 2000 during the riots in Malpura in the Tonk district of Rajasthan which claimed the lives of 6 people including Kailash Mali. The court granted the benefit of the doubt to 5 of the defendants in his murder case, resulting in their acquittal. A special court of Jaipur pronounced its verdict in both cases on 2nd December.
According to media reports, Islam, Mohammad Ishaq, Abdul Razzaq, Irshad, Mohammad Zafar, Sajid Ali, Bilal Ahmed and Mohammad Habib were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Hariram murder case. After hearing all of the defence and prosecution’s arguments, the court declared that no leniency can be shown against those who commit brutal murders with sharp weapons. However, the 5 accused in Kailash Mali’s case were released because there were no eyewitnesses.
On 10th July 2000, Hariram’s widow, Dhanni Devi, filed a report at the Malpura police station regarding his murder. She was reportedly accompanying her spouse to their field. The rioters used a sharp knife to assault him during this time and repeatedly struck him on his body after which he died. His son had filed a First Information Report (FIR) in the murder case of Kailash Mali.
The complainant stated that he had been informed about the attack on his father by some villagers, but his father had already passed away when he arrived at the location after learning about the shocking development. Five people were charged in this case. There were no eyewitnesses, according to the defence. The accused was found not guilty after the court accepted this argument.
On 10th July 2000, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kailash Mali was murdered in Malpura of Tonk district. Kailash Mali was pushed off a moving bike and stabbed with knives. He died on the way to Jaipur. The news of Kailash Mali’s murder spread in the urban and rural areas of Tonk. Muslim mobs targeted Hindus at many places, amid the critical atmosphere. People from both communities died due to the unrest. Cases against 17 other people are still pending in court. Kailash Mali was made the main accused by the police in the 1992 riots that took place in the Tonk district after the Babri demolition which put him on the target list of fundamentalists. On the other hand, his wife asserted that he was falsely implicated.
