E-Paper
Dharmasthala: High court seeks record of 74 unnatural deaths
The Karnataka high court has ordered the state to report on 74 unnatural death cases in Dharmasthala, following a public interest litigation.
The Karnataka high court has directed the state government to account for its handling of 74 cases concerning allegedly unnatural deaths reported in Dharmasthala between 1990 and 2021, asking officials to clarify the status of each case and outline steps taken and planned.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and justice CM Poonacha issued the order while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Kusumavati, whose daughter Soujanya, a student, was gang-raped and murdered in Dharmasthala in 2012.
The petition draws attention to claims by a former sanitation worker, CN Chinnaiah, who earlier alleged that he was coerced over several years into burying the bodies of women and minors in and around the town. Following these assertions, a state police special investigation team (SIT) was formed to conduct an investigation into the claims. Chinnaiah was later taken into custody on a perjury charge.
Appearing for the State, advocate general K Shashikiran Shetty assured the court that information would be compiled. “This is a matter regarding 74 cases. We will obtain information on the stage of each case and what has happened so far, and provide full details to the court within one week,” he said.
Advocate S Balan, representing the petitioner, argued for a comprehensive inquiry. “All 74 cases are cases that need to be subjected to investigation and trial,” he said. The bench declined to comment on the merits before receiving the State’s account. “Let the information come from the government first,” the judges observed.
Government counsel also told the court that the State had not yet been formally listed as a respondent in the petition. The bench then directed the petitioner’s counsel to include the State government as a respondent and issued notice accordingly.The court has set a two-week deadline for the State’s response and scheduled the next hearing for February 19.
