A division bench of the Bombay high court on Friday issued a show cause notice to the Maharashtra government over the recent killing of four members of a Dalit family in Bhandara district.

The Bench, comprising Justice A J Rohi and C L Aangarkar, issued the notice on a public interest litigation filed by a Nagpur lawyer.

The notice is returnable within three weeks. The killings at Khairlanji village in September, allegedly by non-Dalits, had sparked off widespread protests in Vidarbha region.

Meanwhile, normal life was partially affected as a day-long Nagpur bandh in protest against the killing of four members of a Dalit family in neighbouring Bhandara district began on Friday.

Traffic was thin on the roads and educational institutions remained closed.

The bandh was peaceful and no untoward incident has been reported since morning, police said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who arrived in Nagpur on Friday morning immediately left for Khairlanji where the Dalit killings took place.