Agartala, May 17, 2023, TRIPURA TIMES Desk

Agartala, May 17: The District and Sessions Court of South Tripura upheld the previous ruling of the lower court, resulting in a two-year prison sentence for three CPM leaders from the Belonia sub-division. The leaders, namely Tapas Dutta, Trilokesh Sinha, and Babul Debnath, were found guilty in connection with the assault on the Belonia court, which took place on September 2, 2015.

The initial verdict was delivered by the Belonia lower court, which sentenced the three accused CPM leaders to two years of rigorous imprisonment. Following this decision, they appealed against the verdict in the District Court. However, District and Sessions Court Judge Ashutosh Pandey upheld the lower court's judgment.

The incident in question involved verbal abuse and pressure exerted on the then District and Sessions Judge, Ruhidas Pal, to close the court during a Bandh called by the Leftists. Later Police rushed to the scene and subsequently took suo motu action against the three accused leaders.

During the course of the investigation, 22 witnesses were presented in the Belonia JM First Class Court, where Tapas Dutta, Trilokesh Sinha, and Babul Debnath faced charges. The case was handled by Investigating Officer (IO) SI Shankar Saha. The police filed a charge sheet under Section 447/353/332/34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) before the court.

After a thorough hearing, the court pronounced its verdict. The accused were sentenced to two months of imprisonment and a fine of five hundred rupees under Section 447/34 IPC. A further ten days in jail were ordered for non-payment of the penalty. Additionally, the accused were sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment under 353/34 IPC. Both the verdict would run concurrently.

The three accused separately appealed for bail in the District and Sessions Court. The Court clubbed the three appeals together and Judge Ashutosh Pandey upheld the judgment of the lower court.