Gir Somnath: A special court in Veraval in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district on Monday convicted five persons and acquitted 35 others in the 2016 Una flogging case, in which four Dalit men were thrashed when they were trying to skin the carcass of a cow, triggering massive protests across the country at the time.
The court of special SC/ST atrocities cases and additional district and sessions judge JJ Pandya convicted five accused and acquitted 35 others, while the case against a policeman was abated as he died during the pendency of the trial, district government lawyer Ketansinh Vala said, adding the court reserved its order of sentencing for Tuesday.
Those convicted in the case are Ramesh Jadhav, Rakesh Joshi, Nagji Vaniya, Pramodgiri Goswami, and Balwatgiri Goswami, while judgment against a juvenile is pending, Vala said.
The court examined around 260 witnesses during the course of trial, he said.
The incident occurred at Mota Samadhiyala village near Una town of Gir-Somnath district on July 11, 2016 when four Dalit youths, as part of their traditional profession, were skinning the carcass of a cow that had died earlier in some other village.
The accused, self-proclaimed cow vigilantes, flogged the youths, who were then illegally put in the lockup and thrashed by police personnel as well. It was alleged that the four Dalits were thrashed for almost 4-5 hours. Police allegedly connived with the perpetrators and forged some FIR related documents to help them.
