A Nashik sessions court on Saturday sentenced six people to death for murdering three Dalit men in Maharshtra’s Sonai village in 2013, PTI reported.

The convicts were sentenced to death for brutally killing the young men over an inter-caste relationship. Four of the guilty include the girl’s father and family members, The Indian Express reported.

On January 15, the court convicted six of seven men accused of the murders. The seventh accused was acquitted for lack of evidence. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had sought capital punishment for the men then.

“It was the opinion of the court that caste prejudices ought to be checked like one curbs the spread of a malignant disease,” Nikam said after the verdict, The Hindu reported. Judge RR Vaishnav also fined the six men Rs 20,000 each.

The murders

Three Dalit youth from the Sonai village – Sachin Gharu, 24, Sandeep Thanvar, 25, and Rahul Kandare, 20 – were murdered on January 1, 2013. Their body parts were found in a septic tank and a dried-up well.

Gharu, who was from the Valmiki community, and the 19-year-old daughter of the main accused, Popat Darandale, were in a relationship, The Indian Express reported. Gharu and the two other victims worked together. The prosecution had asked for death penalty saying the murders were “pre-meditated, brutal and resulted out of caste violence”.