Karnataka High Court grants bail to 99 convicts in 2014 SC/ST Act case

Less than a month after a local court convicted convicted 101 persons in a decade-old case of atrocity against members of Scheduled Castes at Marakumbi village in the State, the Karnataka High Court has suspended the sentence and granted bail to 99 of the convicts.

On Wednesday, Justices Sreenivas Harish Kumar and TG Shivashankare Gowda of the Dharawad bench of the Karnataka High Court suspended the sentence imposed on the 99 convicts and granted them bail against a security of ₹1 lakh each.

The bench noted that the 99 convicts had been on bail during the trial in the case that had lasted for 10 years.

During such period, none of them had indulged in any activity which affected trial of the case or any of the victims, the Court noted.

The High Court while granting the convicts bail further took note of the submission made by the counsel for the applicants that in the village, the victims as well as the accused had long forgotten what had happened and were now leading “peaceful lives.”

“It is seen that all the accused were on bail during the trial. No material is placed that they misused the discretionary bail. The injuries sustained by some of the victims are all simple in nature. The photographs pertaining to the burnt houses are also placed on record. The appellant/ accused have undertaken to abide by any condition. We are of the opinion that finding recorded by the trial court requires thorough examination. Therefore, accused persons have made out ground for grant of bail and case for suspension of sentence,” the High Court said.

The incident in question occurred on August 28, 2014, when some Dalits were denied entry into hair-dressing salons and hotels in Marakumbi village in Gangavati taluk of Koppal district in Karnataka.

Later that day, upper caste residents of the village allegedly armed with bricks, stones and sticks, beat up all Dalit residents including women, children and the elderly before setting their houses on fire.

On October 25 this year, the Principal District & Sessions Court in Koppal convicted 101 people out of the 117 accused in the case and sentenced 98 of those convicted to life imprisonment.