A Jehanabad court has convicted 15 people and acquitted 23 others in the 1999 Senari massacre case, where 34 upper-caste people were killed by Maoists. The massacre took place on March 18, 1999, in Senari village, under Karpi police station in Arwal district. The victims were dragged from their homes, lined up near a temple, and killed with blunt objects, their throats slit.
The prosecution presented strong evidence, and the charges were framed against 45 accused individuals. A chargesheet was filed in 2002 against 74 people, but the trial involved 56, with 18 absconders. Two of the accused died during the trial. The court, led by Additional District Judge Ranjit Kumar Singh, will determine the punishment for the convicted on November 15.
The Senari massacre was part of a series of violent incidents during the 1990s, attributed to Maoist groups like the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and upper-caste organizations such as the Ranbir Sena. This followed other massacres, including the 1997 Lakshman-Bathe massacre, in which 57 Dalits were killed. Between 1977 and 2000, Bihar witnessed 91 massacres, with 76 occurring in the 1990s, claiming over 350 lives, particularly in districts like Gaya, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, and Bhojpur.