Mainpuri, March 18 — A special court in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri district on Tuesday sentenced three men to death for their role in the 1981 Dehuli massacre, where 24 Dalits, including two children, were killed.
Special Judge Indira Singh convicted Kaptan Singh (60), Rampal (60), and Ram Sevak (70) on March 12. The court also imposed a ₹50,000 fine on each convict, government counsel Rohit Shukla said.
The massacre occurred on November 18, 1981, when a gang of 17 dacoits, led by Santosh Singh alias Santosha and Radhey Shyam alias Radhey, stormed Dehuli around 4:30 pm. Dressed in khakis, the assailants targeted Dalit families, shooting 24 people, including two toddlers aged six months and two years.
A local resident, Laik Singh, filed the FIR the following day, naming 17 accused under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), and 396 (dacoity with murder), among other charges. However, 13 accused died during the trial, and one was declared an absconder.
Shukla said he sought capital punishment, calling the massacre “gruesome” and categorizing it as the “rarest of rare” case. “The court considered the evidence and arguments of both sides before delivering the verdict,” he said.
The trial initially began at the special dacoity-affected area (DAA) court in Mainpuri but was later transferred to a sessions court in Allahabad, where witness testimonies were recorded. In December 2024, the case was returned to the Mainpuri court for the final verdict.
The tragedy drew national attention. Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited the victims’ families, while opposition leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee led a padyatra from Dehuli to Sadupur in Firozabad to express solidarity with the grieving community.
