2014 Dalit atrocity case: Karnataka court convicts 101 people

Koppal: Koppal Principal District and Sessions Court on Thursday convicted 101 people in a decade-old Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) case at Marakumbi village.

Of the total convicted, 98 were sentenced to life imprisonment, along with a Rs 5,000 fine while three others belonging to ST community were sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment with Rs 2,000 fine.

A total of 117 people were charged with assaulting, abusing and torching the houses belonging to members of the Madiga community on August 28, 2014, in the SC colony of the village over a movie ticket issue the previous day.

Over the course of the case, 11 people accused in the crime died and two minors were tried under the juvenile justice board.

In his order, judge C Chandra Shekhar records that the village used to regularly report skirmishes between the upper castes and Dalits. However, on August 27 when Manjunath (Accused 1) along with his friends went to watch a movie in Gangavathi, they picked up a fight with “unidentified” people.

Manjunath and his friends instigate the members of the upper caste by claiming that it was the residents of the SC colony in the village, who were behind the assault on them.

Bheemesh, one of the victims of the atrocities, in his complaint, had charged that a large number of people belonging to the upper caste assembled at their colony at around 4 am with bricks, stones and sticks, and started hurling caste abuses against the residents of the colony. The skirmish resulted in accused persons torching the huts and houses of the victims.

The police and public prosecution were able to “prove beyond doubt” to the court that the 98 persons were involved in atrocities against the Dalits and convicted them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

While 98 were sentenced to life imprisonment, three others, who belonged to the ST community, were sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a Rs 2,000 fine.