SASARAM: For one and a half years, their lives were put on hold, wasted behind bars. But the ordeal didn’t end there. They also faced the crushing weight of social stigma, and the financial burden of fighting a lengthy court battle, which forced them to even sell their ancestral land.
The relentless cycle of visiting police stations and courts took a devastating toll on their lives.
Four siblings Vimlesh, Bhagwan and Satendra Pal, all over 55 years, and their father Rati Lal, of Devaria village under Akodhigola police station area in Rohtas district, spent 18 months in jail for an alleged kidnapping, murdering, and burying of a family member, Nathuni Pal, now 50, a crime that never occurred. Rohtas police had declared Nathuni dead in 2008. The four were released from the prison after securing bail from the Patna high court in July 2010.
The mystery of the alleged murder was unravelled when on January 4 this year, the Uttar Pradesh police found Nathuni loitering near Damna village in Jhansi. He was brought back to his native village Devaria on Wednesday.
As the case goes, on September 18, 2008, a written complaint was filed by one Babu Lal alleging that his nephew Nathuni Pal, who was mentally disabled, had been kidnapped, murdered and buried over a land dispute by his cousins—Vimlesh, Bhagwan and Satendra Pal and uncle Rati Lal. Based on statements of the witnesses, the police arrested three brothers—Vimlesh, Bhagwan and Satendra Pal—and their father Rati Lal. Jeetendra Pal, a constable and another accused sibling, was given a clean chit by police in the investigation, as he was on duty at the time of the alleged crime.
Despite extensive search, including digging canals and other locations, the police had failed to recover the body. They filed a chargesheet six months later, after which the four were arrested and put behind the bars.
The accused family endured social ostracism. They were barred from using public facilities like the village handpump and farming on their own land, and their pleas for justice to the villagers were ignored. Unable to cope with the stigma Rati Lal, died soon after his release from jail in 2010, followed by his wife’s death months later. The family was forced to sell their ancestral land to fight the case in the court.
The case took an unexpected turn when the in-charge of Damna police outpost in Uttar Pradesh, Nawab Singh, encountered a suspicious individual during a routine patrol on January 4. Upon verification from Rohtas police, the UP counterpart was found that the man was Nathuni, presumed dead 16 years ago. Pal had been living in the house of a local farmer in Ghawar village under the Damna police station area for the past six months.
Jeetendra, now a havildar, expressed relief that his family was finally free from the social stigma. “Despite our repeated appeals to officials, right from the SHO to the DIG, we were shamed guilty,” he said. The family had maintained that Nathuni often disappeared for days due to his mental condition, but would eventually return.
Jeetendra said he tirelessly searched for his missing cousin, Nathuni, over the years. He frequently visited Patna Junction, looking for him among the beggars. Bhagwan Pal, one of the accused in the case, spoke out about the brutality he endured, alleging he was severely assaulted and tortured by the police during their investigation of the case. Even after 16 years, he said that their family continues to face shame in their village, with no one willing to believe in their innocence.
Superintendent of police, Rohtas, Roshan Kumar, on Wednesday said that after discussion, proper action would be taken in the case.
