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| Witnesses seek protection |
| On September 29, four members of a Dalit family had been killed by upper castes in Kherlanji village in Maharashtra.
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| INDIA
, 6-January-2007
1:19:40 AM |
| Two witnesses in the Khairlanji killing case want the Centre to give them protection because they say they don't trust the Maharashtra police to protect them.
On September 29, four members of a Dalit family had been killed by upper castes in Kherlanji village in Maharashtra.
They allegedly had been killed because they had taken up the cause of other Dalits in a previous fight in the village.
The police had arrested 47 people from the village, but 22 of them have been granted bail and which is why the two witnesses in the case feel unsafe now.
Living in fear
Rajendra and Siddhartha, cousins of the Bhayalal Bhotmange's wife, now live in fear.
But there were no policemen to guard them at a press conference in Mumbai on Friday.
The only protection they get right now from being targeted by those accused of murdering the Bhotmanges, is a single policeman and that too while they are in Khairlanji.
"Our livelihood is over as we cannot go and till our fields because we fear for our lives," said Rajendra Gajbiye, witness, Khairlanji massacre.
Court decision
Their fears fuelled are by a local court decision to release on bail the 23 of the 47 accused.
"Those who were released on bail took out a procession and they also threatened us," said Rajendra.
They are asking the state government for protection from an agency like the CISF and not the local police, since some of the local officials have themselves been accused in the case.
The Best Bakery re-trial saw prime eyewitness Zaheera Shiekh turn hostile primarily because she didn't get sufficient state protection.
If the witnesses in the Khairlanji case are not provided with adequate protection then justice may once again be delayed or worse denied
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