Guntur, July 31
A special court here today convicted 56 accused and acquitted 123 others in the sensational Chundur Dalit massacre case in which eight Dalits of Chunduru village of Guntur district were killed in August 1991.

Of the 56 found guilty, special court judge S. Anees sentenced 21 persons to undergo life imprisonment while 35 others were sentenced for a year each. All the convicted persons were asked to pay Rs 2,000 each in fine.

The incident occurred on August 6, 1991, when eight Dalits were butchered after they stabbed to death four Reddy landowners. Incensed Reddys chased Dalits of Chunduru and neighbouring villages and axed eight of them.

The bodies were then packed in gunny bags and thrown into an irrigation canal. The incident hit the headlines in the national Press.

The bodies were later retrieved and buried on the premises of a private hotel in the village amid vehement protests by the upper caste Reddys.

The then government set up a special sessions court under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 1993.

The case was taken to the Andhra Pradesh High Court and the Supreme Court several times over the venue of the trial and the nature of the charges. Finally, as demanded by the Dalits, the court sat in the village Dalit colony.

The police filed chargesheets against 219 persons and registered 12 FIRs. Thirty-three persons died during the trial and seven accused could not be apprehended. Two police officers who had investigated the case died during the trial. — UNI