Karnataka High Court Grants Bail To 99 Convicts In Marakumbi Atrocity Case, Admits Their Appeal Against Conviction

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday granted bail to 99 convicts in a decade old case of atrocity against members of the Scheduled Caste community at Marakumbi village.

A division bench of Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar and Justice T G Shivashankare Gowda sitting at Dharwad also admitted their appeals challenging the conviction. It also suspended the sentence imposed upon them.

The court said, “It is seen that all the accused were on bail during the trial. No material is placed that they misused the discretionary bail.”

Further, “We are of the opinion that finding recorded by the trial court requires thorough examination. Therefore accused persons have made out grounds for grant of bail and case for suspension of sentence.”

Accordingly, it granted bail and directed release of each of them on executing personal bond for Rs.1,00,000, with a surety for likesum to the satisfaction of the trial court. They are directed to deposit the fine amount within two weeks, if not already deposited.

The sessions court had convicted 101 persons and sentenced 98 of them to suffer life imprisonment under Section 3(2)(iv) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The remaining accused were sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment. A total of 117 accused were charged in the offence, 11 accused died during pendency of the case. Two accused were juveniles so their cases were referred to the Juvenile Justice Board.

The sessions court in its order had said “To show mercy in a case like this would be travesty of justice. Considering the fact that the injured victims, male and female, belong to Scheduled Caste and that accused have violated the modesty of women folk, assaulted the victims with sticks, stones and brick pieces causing injuries, I am of the opinion that the Accused deserve to be sentenced for more period than the prescribed minimum period of punishment.”

As per FIR lodged in August 2014, the accused suspected that the assault on them while purchasing cinema tickets was at the instance of complainant who belongs to the Scheduled Caste community of Madigas. Consequently, accused entered the colony of Madigas community, abused and assaulted the community members and lit fire to their houses.

The accused had on being convicted, pleaded that not all of them had set fire to the huts. They also urged the court to consider their humble background, as some of them were agriculturists, coolies and daily wage earners.

The Sessions Court however said, “Considering the facts and circumstances of this case, I do not find any extenuating or mitigating circumstances available on the record, which justify for showing any lenience.”

It cited Manjula Devi v. Onkarjit Singh Ahluwalia @ Omkarjeet Singh and Others (2017) where the Supreme Court had observed that despite various measures to improve the socio-economic conditions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, they remain vulnerable and are denied their rights and further are subjected to various offences, indignities, humiliations and harassment.

Case Title: Manjunath & Others AND State of Karnataka

Case No: CRL.A 100554/2024

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