Marakumbi atrocity case: 99 persons granted bail by High Court Dharwad Bench

The Dharwad Bench of the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday granted bail to 99 out of 101 persons convicted in the decade-old case of atrocity against members of Scheduled Castes at Marakumbi village in Gangavati taluk of Koppal district in Karnataka.

On October 24, the Principal District and Sessions Court in Koppal announced the sentence for the 101 persons convicted in the decade-old case of atrocity against members. After completing hearing, judge C. Chandra Shekhar had held 101 of the 117 accused guilty on October 21, and pronounced the judgment on October 24.

The court had sentenced 98 convicts to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹5,000 on each of them under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. As the remaining three were members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, they were sentenced to five years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹2,000 each.

On Wednesday, a Division Bench of High Court of Karnataka headed by justice SreenivasHarish Kumar and justice T.G. Shivashankare Gowda granted the bail.

Among the convicts, accused no. 1 Manjunath had not applied for bail. Another convict Ramanna Bhovi had died after the verdict.

Advocate Anand Kolli, who argued for the petitioners, said that the Bench observed several issues (delay in filing FIR, identification parade, following the bail conditions) before grant of bail. A total of eight advocates had represented the petitioners. The High Court awarded conditional bail on the surety of a person and ₹50,000 bond, he said.

Published - November 13, 2024 07:34 pm IST