Patna: An Indian villager has been acquitted of murder charges after spending 28 years in jail.
On his release, the man lamented that his family had severed all ties with him when the allegations were made and did not make any attempt to get him out on bail.
Birbal Bhagat, 56, a resident of Deoria district in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested in January 1994 at the age of 28. He was acquitted for lack of evidence by a local court in Bihar on Thursday.
According to court officials, Birbal, along with Surya Narayan Bhagat, a resident of Hariharpur village in Gopalganj district, had left for Muzaffarpur district in Bihar in connection with some work on June 11, 1993. Meanwhile, Surya Narayan went missing and could not be traced despite all efforts by his family members. A few days later, the Deoria police in UP recovered a dead body and performed his last rites since there was no claimant.
The family of the missing villager said the cremated person was the one who had gone missing and later registered a murder case against Birbal, who was soon arrested and handed over to the Gopalganj police. Since his arrest on January 27, 1994, he has been languishing in jail without getting any legal support.
Defence lawyer Raghvendra Sinha said that initially the case was being tried in a fast track court but the trial was disrupted due to closure of the court. The case lingering in the court but its trial picked up speed when it reached the court of district and sessions judge, Gopalganj, Vishwa Vibhuti Gupta.
“During the trial, neither the police could present their point before the court nor did the investigating officer come to the court to testify. The police didn’t even submit the charge-sheet. The doctor who performed the autopsy too did not appear in the court. So the court acquitted the accused for lack of any evidence,” additional public prosecutor Pervez Hasan told the local media.
Witnesses said that after hearing his acquittal in the case, the man broke down in court and thanked God.
“Almighty has finally listened to my prayers. I have been finally acquitted from the murder charges. The taint of murder accusation that I had been bearing for so many years has finally been removed. This has removed the burden from my heart,” Birbal told the media.
He also expressed shock over the way his family members left him to die in jail after the murder allegations. “They simply severed all ties, considering me as a criminal. Let aside meeting me in jail, they didn’t even file my bail petitions for my release,” he lamented.
