Nithari killings: What kind of law is this that acquits monsters, ask parents

As the media watches, Ram Kishan hurls a brick into the abandoned bungalow of Moninder Singh Pandher, anger and frustration reflecting on his face.

The labourer’s three-year-old son was one of the victims of the 2006 serial killings in Nithari, Uttar Pradesh, in which Pandher and his domestic help Surendra Koli were the prime accused.

Emotions overflowed as nearly two-decade-old wounds were reopened on Monday with an Allahabad High Court order acquitting Koli and his employer in the case for lack of evidence.

After throwing the brick, Ram Kishan doesn’t speak to anyone and walks back to his home, two minutes from Pandher’s bungalow.

The acquittal of Pandher and Koli recalled for many the chilling series of killings targeting young children, which came to light with skeletal remains being found behind Pandher's bungalow in Sector 30, adjoining Nithari village near Delhi.

A two-judge bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and SHA Rizvi allowed the appeals filed by Koli and Pandher, who were challenging the death sentence awarded by a CBI court in Ghaziabad. The high court said the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Jhabbu Lal (63) and Sunita Devi (60), who lost their daughter, expressed sadness over the latest judgment. "We are not satisfied with the judgment. This is not right. When someone killing several children can be acquitted, imagine the punishment those who kill just one or two people will get," Lal said. 

The couple meet their daily expenses by ironing clothes barely 50 metres from Pandher's abandoned bungalow. Lal said he has spent around Rs 4 lakh in lawyers' fees till date, even selling off a plot of land. Sunita Devi, busy ironing clothes but intermittently speaking to reporters, said, "We appeal to PM (Narendra) Modi and (Uttar Pradesh) CM Yogi Adityanath that those who killed our children be hanged. What kind of law is this which is acquitting these monsters?" 

Ashok and Rajwati, who now run a footwear shop in Nithari, lost their five-year-old son in the serial killings. "Our son was born eight years after our marriage... We have lost all hope of justice now, it's been 17 years," Rajwati said. 

It has been learned that many other families of victims no longer live in Nithari village. Koli is currently lodged in a Ghaziabad prison, while Pandher languishes in a Noida jail.