Indore, October 31: The Indore bench of the MP High Court, on Wednesday, upheld the trial court’s award of death penalty to three staffers of a private bus involved in the Sendhwa bus-burning incident of August 2011, in which 15 passengers were charred to death and several others were severely injured.
The bus owner who had been held guilty of abetting the crime and conspiracy by the lower court, has been acquitted of all charges.
In September 2013, two years after the incident, a local court in Barwani condemned the bus driver Tarun Sharma, conductor Dilip Soni and cleaner Rajkumar Singh Kushwaha to death and awarded a life- term imprisonment to bus owner Naresh Kumar and imposed a penalty of Rs 62 lakh on him to be paid as compensation to the victims.
Thereafter, the case was placed before the High Court for approval. Since November 2014, the case was heard thrice by three different division benches of the High Court, but final orders were not passed.
A Division Bench of Justices P.K Jaiswal and J.K Jain finally heard the appeal on October 5, 2015 and pronounced the Judgment this Wednesday.
The heinous incident took place on August 22, 2011, when the driver, Tarun Sharma, got into a quarrel with the driver of another bus over ferrying passengers in the Sendhwa district of Madhya Pradesh. When the bus owned by Sai Kripa Travels left with the passengers that Tarun Sharma claimed were his, he along with the conductor, Dilip Soni, and cleaner, Rajkumar Kushwaha, chased the bus, stopped it and poured gasoline over it before setting it on fire. The Sai Kripa bus was filled with passengers and many didn’t even get the time to escape.
Thereafter, the case was placed before the High Court for approval. Since November 2014, the case was heard thrice by three different division benches of the High Court, but final orders were not passed.
A Division Bench of Justices P.K Jaiswal and J.K Jain finally heard the appeal on October 5, 2015 and pronounced the Judgment this Wednesday.
The heinous incident took place on August 22, 2011, when the driver, Tarun Sharma, got into a quarrel with the driver of another bus over ferrying passengers in the Sendhwa district of Madhya Pradesh. When the bus owned by Sai Kripa Travels left with the passengers that Tarun Sharma claimed were his, he along with the conductor, Dilip Soni, and cleaner, Rajkumar Kushwaha, chased the bus, stopped it and poured gasoline over it before setting it on fire. The Sai Kripa bus was filled with passengers and many didn’t even get the time to escape.