New Delhi - An Indian court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced six people to death for killing four members of a low-caste Dalit family in the western state of Maharashtra.

The court in the eastern Bhandara district also sentenced two other defendants to life imprisonment for the murders that took place in the Khairlanji village in September
2006.

Judge SS Das accepted public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam's plea for capital punishment for the men who beat to death the wife and three children of a farmer, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, over a land dispute. Bhotmange managed to escape and survived.

But the court noted that the prosecution could not produce evidence to conclusively prove that it caste was a motive for the attack.

Three other defendants were acquitted for lack of evidence. The trial began in May 2007 and 36 witnesses were examined.

"We will appeal against the judgement in a higher court. This is not the rarest of rare cases in which death penalty should be awarded," defence counsel Sudip Jaiswal told reporters.

Nikam said he was satisfied with the verdict which would restore harmony in the society.

The Khairlanji killings had sparked off widespread Dalit protests and violence in the region. Local media reported that Dalit leaders who were agitated at the slow pace of the probe welcomed the verdict.

Atrocities against Dalits are common and a number of incidents of torture or murder of people belonging to the community are reported regularly.

Although caste-based discrimination is banned in India, upper-caste Hindus still practice various forms of discrimination, including not allowing the low caste to worship at temples.

The most menial jobs - including the cleaning of sewers, often manually - are also largely done by Dalit community members, who comprise about 160 million of India's 1.2 billion people. (dpa)