MAHARAJGANJ: A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district has sentenced a 60-year-old man to rigorous life imprisonment for murdering a Dalit youth in 2019 over an alleged love affair, officials said on Friday.Special public prosecutor Fanindra Kumar Tripathi said Special Judge (SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act) Abid Shamim pronounced the verdict on Thursday, holding Ram Prasad Prajapati guilty of murder.Along with the life sentence, the court imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on the convict. Failure to pay the amount would result in an additional six months of imprisonment, Tripathi said.According to the prosecution, Prajapati was booked under charges of murder and relevant provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for killing 19-year-old Achhelal.Tripathi said the accused allegedly attacked the youth with a stick and a sharp-edged weapon following a dispute linked to an alleged love affair.Police had registered a case against Prajapati after the incident, and the court has now convicted him six years later.(With PTI inputs)
