DGP B. Prasada Rao on Sunday said the State Government would file a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the recent High Court order acquitting the 56 accused in the massacre of Scheduled Castes by upper caste men at Tsundur in Guntur district in 1991.
Mr. Rao told reporters at a programme organised by Telangana Union of Working Journalists that the process to file the SLP was already underway. “The final adjudication will be by the Supreme Court,” he said.
The High Court had set aside the verdict of the trial court at Guntur awarding life imprisonment to 21 accused persons and one year jail term to 35 others in the sensational case that saw the killing of eight Scheduled Caste persons and injuries to several others when upper caste men of Reddy, Telaga and other communities attacked them on August 6, 1991.
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But, the High Court has now set free the remaining 56 persons saying there were inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case and statements of witnesses. With this, all the accused in the case have been acquitted. Senior advocate and a rights activist Bojja Tarakam was appointed as the special public prosecutor in the case.