HYDERABAD: A GO directing the prosecution lawyers to appeal in the High Court against the Guntur trial court’s verdit in the massacre of eight Dalits in Tsundur in Guntur district in 1991, has remained unheeded for three-and-half years.In normal circumstances, an appeal has to be made in a higher court within 90 days of the delivery of judgement by a lower court. But for reasons unknown, the work in this case remained unattended to though GO 13 was issued on Jan 30, 2008.The Guntur trial court, in its judgement on July 31, 2007, acquitted 123 of the 219 accused. B Chandrasekhar, special public prosecutor of the trial court, then suggested to the then High Court public prosecutor C Nageswara Rao to prefer an appeal against 60 of the acquitted and convicted because they had a lighter sentence. Later, in January, the GO was issued to this effect but not implemented.Now Chandrasekhar is the special public prosecutor in the High Court and is getting ready to implement the GO which was issued at his suggestion. “On behalf of the government we will be filing an appeal in about 10 days’ time,” he said.Of the 219 accused, 33 had died by then and seven were declared absconding. Of the remaining 179 accused persons, 21 were awarded life imprisonment and 35 were let off with one-year sentence. The remaining 123 were acquitted but the prosecution had felt that there was evidence against 60 of them and the trial court’s verdict should be challenged in the High Court. The prosecution also felt that appeal could be preferred against 35 who were let off with one-year sentence because they faced murder charges and also against the 21 who were awarded lifer since the sentence was given in respect of one murder and they were involved in the murder of seven other Dalits as well.On August 6,1991 eight Dalits were massacred in Tsundur in Guntur district, shocking the nation. It was a crime perpetrated allegedly by socially-dominant Reddy and Telaga caste persons against the SCs.
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