UP Man sentenced to death for double murder linked to property dispute

A court here sentenced a man to death in a decade-old double murder case, the first such death penalty in the region, a lawyer said. The murders, including the killing of a minor, were the result of a two-year-old property dispute with the complainant.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.25 lakh on him, said Davendra Kumar Pandey, assistant counsel to the district administration. Pandey said, “Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar Srivastav on Friday convicted one Baijnath (38) in the murder case of two persons filed in 2014. years) was guilty and sentenced him to death.”

An FIR was lodged in the matter on April 2, 2014, based on a complaint by Rajendra Kumar Chaudhary of Channipur village. The complainant claimed that Baijnath attacked his daughter Gyanti (14) and brother Nirmal Chaudhary with sharp weapons and killed them while he was working in the fields. The judge said in the order: “This incident has shocked the collective conscience of the community. Any form of sympathy is misplaced and will shake public confidence in the administration of the criminal justice system.” The order said: “If the defendant Baijnath is To impose any punishment other than the death penalty would be unjust to society as a whole.”

Police found the incident was the fallout from a land dispute that lasted for more than two decades. Pandey said this is the second time death penalty has been imposed in Maharajganj district since its establishment in 1989. He said the first death sentence was imposed by Additional Sessions Judge Virendra Singh Yadav.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)