The Court of Additional Sessions Judge Hapur convicted the ten accused under sections 302/149, 307/149, 147, 148 and 153A of the Indian Penal Code. They were sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine of ₹58,000 each.
Notably, the families of the victims had not sought a death sentence for the convicts and said that they did not have any enmity against the accused and only wanted justice.
The incident dates back to June 2018 when the Qasim and Samiuddin were assaulted by a group of cow vigilantes on rumour they were involved in cow slaughter. While Qasim was a cattle trader, he was not involved in cow slaughter, his family said. Samiuddin, on the other hand was not known to Qasim, but was caught in the crosshairs of the violence when he had gone to fetch fodder for his cattle.
A video of the incident had also gone viral on social media with the mob dragging a seriously injured Qasim through the ground in police presence, causing uproar due to which the UP police also had to tender a public apology. The police, however, had said that no proof of cow slaughter was found.
