Patna, July 3: The high court today acquitted nine out of 10 accused in the Miyapur massacre for lack of evidence, overturning a lower court’s order.

A division bench comprising Justice V.N. Sinha and Justice Amresh Kumar Lal directed the state government to give proper compensation to the families of those killed in the massacre.

The bench also dismissed an appeal from the government seeking to enhance the punishment awarded by the lower court.

The high court upheld the life imprisonment of one Avinash Chandra Sharma of Senari village in Jehanabad while acquitting the others, namely Pramod Sharma, Nand Kumar Sharma, Vijay, Gopal Sharma, Braj Mohan Sharma, Ram Janam Sharma, Laxmi Sharma, Ram Nath Sharma and Rajendra Sharma.

The Aurangabad Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC and ST) special court judge, Krishna Kant Tripathi, had awarded life imprisonment to 10 persons on September 20, 2007.

The special court had also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on each, failing which three more years would have been added.

During trial in the lower court, 69 prosecution witnesses, including nine doctors, two judicial magistrates and four police personnel were examined.

A witness had identified Avinash Chandra Sharma, whose conviction the high court upheld on Wednesday.

Through the mid-1990s, a cycle of massacres took place in Jehanabad, Bhojpur, Arwal and Aurangabad, christened the killing fields of Bihar.

Behind these massacres were Naxalite outfits and the outlawed Ranvir Sena who battled it out in Laxmanpur Bathe, Bathani Tola, Rampur Aiyara, Senari and Miyapur in their quest for supremacy.

Each massacre was followed by a revenge slaughter.

The massacres were based on caste conflicts, the Ranvir Sena targeting Dalits and the Naxalite outfits targeting upper castes.

The Miyapur massacre was the last major carnage in which the Ranvir Sena killed 32 people, mostly Dalits, to avenge an earlier Naxal attack in Senari village of Jehanabad.

Sources said that on June 16, 2000, 400-500 people entered the village and began firing at the villagers.

The assailants allegedly shouted slogans seeking revenge for the Senari violence. The Aurangabad police filed chargesheets on September 4, 2000 and April 11, 2002 in two phases.