http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/646489/
Khairlanji case: Dalit leaders want death for killers Agencies Posted online: Wed Jul 14 2010, 17:45 hrs Nagpur : Expressing dissatisfaction over the Bombay High Court verdict in the Khairlanji killings, Dalit leaders of Maharashtra today asked the state government to appeal in the Supreme Court to seek death penalty for the convicts. The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court today commuted the death sentence of six convicts in the Khairlanji Dalit killings case to 25 years imprisonment. "The government should approach the Supreme Court against the verdict...I will speak to Chief Minister on this issue," Dairy Development Minister Nitin Raut said. The court verdict is unfortunate and the government should appeal in the apex court, Raut, who is a prominent Dalit leader from Vidarbha region, said. Former minister Sulekha Kumbhare said she would speak to Home Minister R R Patil and ask him to approach the Supreme Court immediately to appeal against the HC ruling. "We don't accept the HC verdict. Injustice has been heaped on Dalit community. We demand death penalty for the accused," she said. Former MP Prakash Ambedkar said the state government needs to take the verdict seriously and appeal in the apex court to assuage feelings of the Dalits who have been hurt by the HC ruling. The Khairlanji verdict has come as a shocker to the Ambedkarite movement, former MP and RPI leader Ramdas Athawale said. "I will meet Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Home Minister R R Patil to demand immediate appeal by the state government in Supreme Court," Athawale said. "Instances of injustice against Dalits are on the rise all over the country. Dalit masses should organise an agitation against such injustice," he said. Survivor too demands capital punishment The lone survivor of Khairlanji dalit killing incident, Bhaiyalal Bhotmange on Wednesday said he was unhappy with the High Court verdict which commuted the capital punishment of six accused to life imprisonment and demanded that Maharashtra government file an appeal in this regard. "The court decision was unexpected. The Maharashtra Government should now go in for appeal against the HC order to give me justice," Bhotmange told reporters outside the court. Not a single person has been confirmed death sentence which was unfortunate, he added. Defence lawyers Sudeep Jaiswal and Neeraj Khandewale were extremely happy over the judgement. "Our stand has been vindicated for the second time, first at special court in Bhandara which awarded death sentence to six accused and gave lifer to remaining two. And now today at the HC," they said. Counsel for CBI, Ejaz Khan said prima facie, the court has upheld the guilt of the accused and the quantum of punishment is the prerogative of the High Court. "We are happy, at this stage," he said. Four members of Bhotmange family were brutally murdered by an angry mob in Khairlanji village on September 29, 2006.