Supreme Court upholds convictions in 1983 Bihar murder case involving killing of five people

The Supreme Court has upheld several convictions in a case of murder of five people in Bihar in 1983, saying the brutality of the incident shocks the judicial conscience. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh said yesterday that the trial court as well as the Patna High Court rightly observed that the case leaves no room for misplaced sympathy or leniency. The top court delivered its verdict on the appeals filed by the convicts challenging an August 2017 judgment of the Patna High Court.

The high court had upheld the conviction and life sentence awarded by the trial court to these convicts.

The apex court noted that the incident took place in March 1983 in a village in Muzaffarpur district, where a mob of at least 58 persons set the house of Chandra Shekhar Choudhary on fire, followed by the brutal killing of five persons and wounding of several others. It was the day of Holi when the mob armed with deadly weapons surrounded Choudhary’s house.