|
Re: India- In a Family Feud 6 Six Were Shot Dead
Jerry Springer would be proud. Six members of a family, including three women, were mercilessly gunned down in full public view in a long-running, blood-for-blood family feud in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district on Friday. Two others are critically injured.
This region, known as the 'wild west' of central India, boasts of the largest number of licensed weapon-holders.
Lepa Bhidosa, the village where this shooting took place, is only 12km from Porsa, the native place of dacoit Pan Singh Tomar, and barely 60km from Gwalior.
There is tension in the region and armed police are patrolling Lepa Bhidosa. Barricades have been put up at all entry points.
According to sources, the families of G.S.T.and D.S.T in Lepa Bhidosa have been locked in a bitter land dispute for a decade. There have been bloody skirmishes in the past and Friday's killings are apparently in retaliation to the murder of two members of the D.S. family in 2013.
Despite a compromise made on paper, the animosity following the two murders is so strong even after a decade that a woman was seen with a gun in hand while another pointed out the victims for a gunman to shoot.
Another woman brought a gun to the battle and placed it in between some stones.
The cellphone video, shot by a local, begins with the attackers beating the victims with sticks while some men and women stand around, armed with guns and lathis.
Suddenly, a young man arrives and starts shooting nine people one after the other. He calmly works the bolt, chambers each round, takes aim and shoots. Another man arrives with a double-barrel gun and begins shooting.
The man taking the video takes cover when the shooting starts but keeps filming as the gunmen cold-bloodedly shoot the victims who are already writhing on the ground and bleeding to death.
Some women are seen shouting and egging them on. As the shots ring out, another woman - presumably a bystander - screams for children to run into the houses.
G. S, 65, his sons, S, 40, and S, 27, daughter-in-law K. (wife of V. S. T.), B, 36 (wife of N. S. T.) and M, 30 (wife of S. S. T.) died on the spot.
Two others - V., G's son, and V.S, son of S. S. T. were critically injured.
In 2013, G's family members were accused of killing two people of D's family. The case is in court. G. had given Rs 6 lakh as 'compensation' to the victims' families but the deadly animosity continued. Scared for their lives, G. and his family had moved to Naraul-Lambha in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat.
They returned on Friday morning, believing a compromise had been struck - and six of them were dead within the hour.
G. came in a large group of 23 - his wife K, six sons, five daughters-in-law, nine grandchildren, and a younger brother. As their household goods were being unloaded from a pickup, G. broke a coconut on the threshold of his house.
The very next moment, the family was ambushed by eight to 10 people from the adjacent house, who first charged at them with lathis and then began firing.
The T. family fought back with sticks and stones, but were felled by bullets. The gunmen went on firing, even shooting anyone who tried to help a fallen family member.
In all, nine people were shot, three of whom died on the spot, and three others died in the district hospital.
The accused - A.S.T, B.S.T, S.T, and S.T. are on the run.
K, who lost her husband, a son, and three daughters-in-law in the firing, told police that the dispute was over a piece of government land.
Although they had nothing to do with the issue, their names were added in the case, and they had to spend time in jail, she said, adding that they had even given Rs 6 lakh as compensation to the accused and had their house transferred to their name.
The land is currently registered with the government. It belonged to a primary school, and G's family claimed that they had donated the plot.
However, the family of M.S.T. allegedly encroached upon it, leading to the dispute.
The feud took a deadly turn on October 20, 2013, when two of M's sons S, 50, and V, 40, were shot dead, allegedly by members of G's family.
Police had booked V., A. alias K. S, H. Si. alias B. L, and R. S. T. They were out on bail.
Former chief minister Kamal Nath has criticized the government over the Morena shooting, calling it a "serious challenge to the state's law and order".
Nath expressed his condolences and urged CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan to take action and ensure such incidents don't take place again. |