98 people in Karnataka sentenced to life imprisonment in a decade-old Dalit atrocity case

The convicted people were booked for torching the houses of the SC community and abusing them by uttering casteist slurs on August 28, 2014 in Koppal district.

A total of 101 people were convicted, out of which 98 were sentenced to life imprisonment by Koppal Principal District and sessions court in a decade-old Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (prevention of atrocities) case at Marakumbi village in Karnataka's Koppal district. The convicted people were booked for torching the houses of the SC community and abusing them by uttering casteist slurs on August 28, 2014.

It was also reported that there had been a long-time enmity between the two groups in the village, and many of the Dalits were then denied entry into barber shops and eateries.

What's the case?

According to reports, Manjunath, the key accused in the case, went to watch a movie with his friends in Gangavati town. Manjunath, along with his friends, picked up a fight with another group at the cinema hall. Later, he provoked a group of his upper caste people and took them to an SC colony in Marakumbi village, where the opposite group lived. At 4am, the group started attacking the houses in the SC colony. The complaint said that bricks were hurled and stones were thrown at the houses. Later, the group also torched some of the huts in the colony as revenge.

It was also reported that there had been a long-time enmity between the two groups in the village, and many of the Dalits were then denied entry into barber shops and eateries. The brawl turned ugly that day and led to violence in the village.

Cases were reportedly booked against 117 people in the incident, and 11 people who were involved in the crime died during the course of the trial. Two of them fell under the juvenile justice board.

Meanwhile, C Chandrasekhar, the judge of Koppal Principal District and Sessions Court, referred to the Manju Devi case during the judgement and said that even after various attempts to bring SC and ST community people, they remain vulnerable.