Lucknow: A court in Barabanki has sentenced a contractor to life imprisonment and imposed fines totalling Rs 42,000 for assaulting a labourer’s son with an iron rod during a wage dispute, an attack that later led to his death.Additional district judge Rakesh Kumar Singh delivered the verdict on Saturday in a case registered at Deva police station. The court convicted the contractor, Naumilal, under Sections 304 (Part II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, along with Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The judge awarded life imprisonment under Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act.Govt counsel Kripa Shankar Tiwari said the victim’s father, Rudal, had been working under Naumilal on plaster-of-Paris (POP) projects and had repeatedly demanded payment of Rs 5,000 that he said was due. According to the prosecution, Rudal went to the contractor’s house in Badataal Tindola village on June 16, 2024, accompanied by his son, Indal, to seek pending wages.Instead of paying, Naumilal allegedly attacked Rudal and Indal with an iron rod. Indal suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital. His condition worsened during treatment and he died on June 23, 2024, seven days after the assault.Rudal informed the court that after Indal’s death, when he confronted the accused, he allegedly threatened him to deter him from approaching police. During cross-examination, Rudal acknowledged he had first gone to a police outpost and later submitted a complaint at Deva police station after his son died.The prosecution argued, and the court accepted, that the act fell under Section 304 Part II, holding that the accused had knowledge that his actions were likely to cause death.
