Bikaner: The Bikaner district court on Friday sentenced 19 people to life imprisonment in connection with the infamous triple murder case of 2008. Justice Mahavir Prasad Mahavar on hearing both sides acquitted four people, and pronounced guilty the remaining 19, including four women. The case pertains to the murder of three people around 14 years ago at Ridi village in Sridungargarh district. On July 21, 2008, two parties had come face-to-face over a mutual dispute in Ridi Gram Panchayat. The then sarpanch Trilok Nath Siddh, his son Lalnath Siddh, and another Ruparam were killed in Ridi village following the dispute. In the primary FIR, the complainant Asunath had accused 49 people of murder.
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Senior advocate OP Harsh and APP Sampurnanand Vyas appeared on behalf of the state in the case. The police, after its initial investigation, presented challans against 25 people. The court convicted 19 people on charges of murder and released another four, while one died in 2014 before the verdict, and one other being a minor was sent to a juvenile court.
A report published by the NCRB compared the crime rates of 1953 and 2006. The report noted that burglary (known as house-breaking in India) declined over 53 years by 79.84%, while murders increased by 7.39%. As of 2019, Delhi had the highest crime rate (incidence of crime per 1,00,000 population) among all states of India. States in Northeast India have consistently reported much lower crime rates, with four of the five states having the lowest crime.
