Bhagalpur: Munni Begum (46), a homemaker in Amarpur block in Banka district, has blamed the prosecution and police for failing to punish the rioters who killed her first husband along with eight of her in-laws and destroyed her family home during the 1989 Bhagalpur riots.

Munni is also the lone survivor of the incident, which occurred in Govindpur under the jurisdiction of Nathnagar police station in Bhagalpur district around 29 year ago.

A local court on Saturday set all six accused in the case free for lack of evidence against them. "It's very unfortunate that the accused were set free by the court and hence, all the deceased, including my first husband, didn't get justice," she said in a choked voice soon after the court delivered the judgment.

The court of additional district and sessions judge I, Kumud Ranjan Singh, set free Prasadi Sharma, Naresh Sharma, Sudin Sharma, Gudar Harijan, Ganesh Paswan and Bijay Sharma from the charges earlier levelled against them for killing the first husband of Munni Begum along with eight family members and subsequently destroying the evidence while hiding the nine bodies during the 1989 communal riots. The incident was reported in Govindpur village on October 26, 1989. Another two accused in the case, Dukha Paswan and Sattan Harijan, died during course of the case hearing.

Special public prosecutor (riot) Mohammad Ataullaha of the prosecution side in the case said the case was initially not registered with Nathnagar police station. But when the state government in 2005 decided to reopen such Bhagalpur riots cases, which were earlier not investigated, the FIR of this case was registered with Nathnagar police station on September 12, 2006, and police filed the chargesheet against the eight accused on September 7, 2007.

Ten SHO-cum-inspector of Nathnagar police station Jawed Mahmud was made the investigating officer in the case and along with Munni Begum and himself, there were nine witnesses in the case.

"Except for Munni Begum and the SHO, not a single witness turned up in court. The family of the deceased was a single minority family at Govindpur and police also remained hostile to take action at the time of the incident. Ultimately, the court has to set all the accused free mainly due to lack of evidence against them," said Mohammad Ataullaha. He recalled how after 17 years of the incident, Munni Begum was searched out and an FIR was registered.