A fast track court on Wednesday sentenced 11 cow vigilantes to life imprisonment in a case related to mob lynching of Alimuddin for carrying of cow meat in Ramgarh district.

The convicted persons are Deepak Mishra, Chhotu Verma, Santosh Singh, Nityanand Mahto, Vicky Sao, Sikandar Ram, Kapil Thakur, Rohit Thakur, Raju Kumar, Vikram Prasad and Uttam Ram. They were convicted under section 147, 148, 149, 427, 435and 302 of IPC on March 16. The court also convicted Deepak, Chhotu and Santosh under section 120B of IPC.

Public prosecutor Sushil Kumar Shukla informed that all convicted persons have been sentenced to life imprisonment under section 302 of IPC. They have also been sentenced to different prison terms under other sections of IPC. Deepak, Chhotu and Santosh have been sentenced to life imprisonment under section 120 B as well.

Shukla said this was first time in country in which people have been convicted in case of this nature.

He informed that judge Om Prakash also directed that copy of the order be sent to the District Legal Service Authority so that dependent of the deceased, Mariam Khatun be provided adequate compensation.

It may be mentioned that the victim Alimuddin was carrying cow meat in his Maruti car on 29 June 2017 when a group of vigilante caught him near Bazaartand in Ramgarh. They thrashed the victim badly causing grievous injuries. Alimuddin was rushed to hospital but he succumbed to injuries on the way.

A case (198 /17) was registered in this connection with Ramgarh police station on basis of statement given by Alimuddin’s wife Mariam Khatun. The investigation officer submitted the charge sheet in the case in September 2017. Meanwhile Jharkhand High Court issued direction for conducting the case through fast track court.

The deposition of witnesses in the case started on September 30 and the argument ended on March 5 2018. The prosecution presented 19 witnesses while defense produced one witness in the court. The court convicted the accused person on March 16. The quantum of judgment was decided on Wednesday.