Behmai massacre: Matter postponed to Jan 30

The Behmai massacre case, in which 20 people were killed allegedly by bandit Phoolan Devi's gang nearly four decades ago, will come up before a special court here on January 30.

The matter was earlier postponed to January 24 as the original case diary had gone missing on January 18 when the matter was listed for pronouncement of verdict by Special Judge (UP dacoity-affected area) Sudhir Kumar.

The judge had pulled up the court official for absence of the case diary at the time of delivering the verdict and had asked him to place it before the court on January 24.

But in view of the lawyers' strike over chambers issue, the matter was postponed to January 30, District Government Counsel (Criminal) Raju Porwal said.

The court is likely to give its verdict on the role of the four surviving accused -- Posha, Bhikha, Vishwanath and Shyambabu. While Posha is still in jail, the rest are out on bail. Three other dacoits, including Man Singh, are absconding.

Phoolan Devi had stormed into the non-descript Behmai village to avenge her alleged rape there by two other bandits -- Lala Ram and Sri Ram -- both Thakurs, a dominant caste in the village.

She was gunned down outside her official residence in New Delhi on July 25, 2001, but was made immortal on the big screen by noted film director Shekhar Kapoor in his movie 'Bandit Queen'.