Convicted 33 years later in Bihar’s Vaishali district

85-year-old Deep Rai remembers almost nothing of the incident that took place 33 years ago. He sleeps on a charpai (cot) in a dhoti and stares at the ceiling. His house is in Jurawanpur village, Vaishali district of Bihar. Sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment by a Vaishali court on June 2, 2026, Deep is one of the five accused who have been convicted of attempted murder and violation of the Arms Act.

His daughter Uma Devi, 50, tries to keep him cool, gently stirring the hot air with a hand fan. From the 40°C heat outside, there is not much relief. There is only father and daughter in the house and the villagers come to visit.

His wife, Munnar Devi, died 15 years ago at the age of 70, and his son and daughter-in-law, both in their 50s, now take care of Deep. He can no longer walk, crippled by arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease, and spends most of his day sleeping in his cot. Yet, like those who rise with the sun, they wake up at 5 am. Uma says he has only a few teeth left, so he is mostly on a liquid diet of sattu (roasted gram powder), milk and rice mashed in starchy water.

On the day of the verdict, his son and several villagers managed to get him into a car and took him to the court in Hajipur, nearly 35 kilometers from the village. The court granted bail to Deepa on the same day and the family plans to appeal to the High Court.

In December 2025, the then Deputy Chief Minister, now Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary said that there were more than 1.8 million pending cases in various courts across Bihar.

Bihar’s Vaishali Civil Court. | Photo credit: Amit Bhelari

Family and village

When asked about committing a crime, Deep shakes his head no. “Maine kuch nahi kiya,” (I didn’t do anything), he says in a weak voice, almost choking.

Uma quickly interjects, “He has done nothing wrong in his entire life and his name has been dragged into this case unnecessarily. It was really painful for him when he was brought to court. Do you think he can move an inch at this age? Still, he had to do it under a court order.”

His neighbor who joins the conversation says that Deep has not been from his village for several years. He says that on the day of the verdict, Deep needed help to climb nearly 40 steps to get to the courtroom on the first floor.

Deep Rai’s house in Jurawanpur village under Raghopur block in Vaishali district. | Photo credit: Amit Bhelari

The family depends on farming and also earns a living by selling milk from their two cows and two buffaloes. The house, built 10 years ago, is unfinished and unpainted, and only two rooms have electricity. She still cooks food using cow dung cakes.

The village, with a population of about 8,000, is located in taal (wetland) and diara (riverine) areas and is prone to flooding. The road is crumbling and there is a great loss of cargo. The village falls under the Raghopur constituency, represented by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

Dispute and trial

On 10 December 1992 in Jurawanpur village of Vaishali district, a dispute started over mirrors placed along the road. While details of why this was done are now scarce, it is a common practice in Bihar villages to make the lives of people they are at loggerheads with miserable.

According to the court’s verdict, Adalat Rai was at his door when nine people, including Deep, started laying glass on the road. One of the nine bought land from a man whose house was on the same road as Adalat’s. Adalat and Udesh Rai, a villager, protested. Deep abused them and left. He and the others later returned armed with weapons. Four people were hit by bullets, with Adalat being shot in the hand, leg and face. His aunt was also injured during the intervention attempt.

Medical reports confirmed Adalat’s gunshot wound. The then doctor at the Primary Health Center (PHC) in Jurawarpur, Dr. Kamal Kumar Singh, said that the laceration was caused by a country weapon.

The FIR was registered on 11 December 1992 and the chargesheet was filed on 18 March 1993. Ten eyewitnesses were examined by the prosecution, including the doctor who treated the injured victims. The prosecution also presented evidence to support its case, including the bullet fired report and X-ray reports of the survivors. At the hearing, the prosecution said that the then-accused had committed a heinous crime and so the harshest possible sentence should be imposed.

The court punished four other men in the case. The case originally involved seven accused men, but two of them died before the court reached a verdict. Four others, two in their 50s and two in their 60s, were also sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Station House Officer (SHO) of Jurawanpur police station Abhishek Ojha took cognizance of the case when the verdict was announced. “I came to know about it when his video went viral on social media,” says Ojha.

Fear of survivors

Fifteen years ago, Adalat (60) left the village of Jurawanpur. Out of fear, he lives with his family in a village on the outskirts of Patna district. Adalat refuses to share many details about his family members, saying the accused family may try to harm him as revenge.

“I no longer visit my village. One of my relatives stays in that house only as a caretaker. Deepi’s family is still looking for me, and after the court verdict, the family members of the other accused who were imprisoned may try to harm me,” he says, adding that he did not go to the court when the verdict was announced out of fear.

He still gets goosebumps when he remembers the shooting. “Shots were fired at close range and blood was falling all around. They were all our neighbours. Deep’s house is just 50 meters from my house,” he says. He claims that he will never return to the village.

Shyambabu Rai, public prosecutor at Vaishali Civil Court, says the case is news for society. “After 33 years, the victims have been relieved. People will know that if someone commits a crime out of provocation and anger, he will not be spared and will be caught sooner or later,” he says. However, he says he urged the judge to consider Deep’s age before sentencing.

Asked about the reason for the delay in the case, Rai says, “People misuse the law and deliberately delay the case by filing a petition under Section 317 of the Penal Code, which corresponds to Section 355 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. It is an application to the criminal courts so that their lawyer can instead excuse the accused to attend a specific meeting with the accused. “In most cases, the accused has time to plan or they think the witnesses can disappear.”

Advocate Anil Kumar, who represented Deep, declined to comment, saying his client had a legal right to approach the High Court for relief.

Raghopur’s History of Clashes

Raghopur is considered bad country by the police. In January 2006, a pregnant woman and her five children were burned alive for stealing bison. The place is also known for the use of illegal weapons and sand mining. The high-profile murder of United Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Brijnath Singh took place during a rivalry between two gangs in Raghopur in February 2016.

Ever since prohibition was introduced in Bihar, police say Raghopur remains active in liquor production and smuggling. It is difficult to catch people because the river area is often flooded and people easily hide in the rice fields. It is said that most households have country pistols.

No one here wants to talk about the 33-year-old incident, but the court admitted in its verdict that the process took a long time.

amit.bhelari@thehindu.co.in