An Indian court has sentenced two Marxist politicians to life in prison for murdering a teenage girl who protested the building of a car factory in eastern India.
The two men sentenced today (Wednesday) by the court in West Bengal state belong to the region's ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist. The court convicted the politicians on Tuesday of killing 18-year old Tapasi Mallick in 2006 and tampering with evidence.
Defense lawyers say the two men will appeal the verdict.Mallick was a leader of protests against plans by Indian automaker Tata Motors to build a factory on farmland in West Bengal. Her charred body was found in Singur near the planned factory in 2006.
Mallick and other opposition activists accused Tata of not compensating villagers fairly for their land. The protests continued until Tata stopped work on the car plant last month and decided to relocate it to western India's Gujarat state.