SC/ST Act: Sessions Court In Karnataka Convicts 101 People In Decade Old Atrocities Case, Sentences 98 Of Them To Life Imprisonment

A sessions court in Koppal district of Karnataka on Thursday convicted 101 persons in a decade old case of atrocity against members of the Scheduled Caste community at Marakumbi village.

Special Judge C Chandra Sekhar observed,

“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.”

The Court sentenced 98 of them to 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.

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.

Total 117 people were charged in the case. They were booked under Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST which deals with intentional insult or intimidation to people belonging to SC/ST community. It is an aggravated form of offence compared to Section 504 and 506 of IPC. They were also booked under Section 3(1)(xi) Act which deals with assault of any woman belonging to SC/ST with intent to outrage her modesty. It is an aggravated form of offence under Section 354 of IPC. They were also charged under Section 3(2)(iv) which deals with committing mischief by fire to destroy place of human dwelling belonging to SC/ST. This is also an aggravated form of offence punishable under Section 436 of IPC.

11 accused died during pendency of the case. Two accused were juveniles so their cases were referred to the Juvenile Justice Board.

The court began its order by quoting African-American singer Marian Anderson, “No matter how big a Nation is, it is no stronger than its weakest people, and as long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you might otherwise.”

It recorded the statement of witnesses- mostly injured, children and women and noted that despite almost three years gap in examination, their evidence was consistent and corroborated by the other evidence on record. It said, “Barring three injured witnesses not supporting the case of the prosecution, all other 35 witnesses have supported the case of the prosecution. No arguments are canvassed that the witnesses were tutored. All of them have narrated their horrifying experience on the day of incident, though not in uniformity, yet consistently.”

Court also referred to evidence of independent panch witnesses, the Doctors who examined the witnesses and the police officers and said, “It corroborates the atrocities inflicted on the people of SC Colony in Marakumbi village. There is nothing brought on record by the Defence to disbelieve or discard evidence of the above witnesses.”

The accused 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.

However, the Court 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: State of Karnataka v. Manjunath & Others

Case No: S.C. (A.C.) No.12/2015