Quoting African-American icon Marian Anderson, Karnataka court convicts 101 people for violence against Dalits

The Koppal district is one of the backward districts in Karnataka and has reported crimes against the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the past as well. This is also the same district, where a three-year-old Dalit boy’s father was fined Rs 25,000 after the child entered a temple.

The Gangavathi rural police had submitted a charge sheet to the court in the case.

Announcing the quantum of punishment, Judge C Chandra Sekar, observed, “This matter appears to be a case of caste violence rather than an ordinary mob violence.”

While the police had named 117 people in the charge sheet, the court convicted 101 people. Eleven accused had died during the trial.

Aparna Manohar Bandi, the public prosecutor in the case, told the Indian Express that the court has considered the evidence and the statements made before it.

The defence counsel said the court accepted their plea and did not impose hefty fines considering that the convicts were mostly poor farmers.

“Taking note of the background of the accused, particularly the economic background, it appears to me that no purpose would be served in imposing hefty fines, for they may not be in a position to pay or deposit the same. Even if some leniency is shown in imposing a lesser fine amount and if realised or deposited by the accused, the said amount may not be adequate to apportion it between the State and the victims,” the judge said.

Quoting African-American contralto Marian Anderson, who broke barriers for African-Americans in music and opera, the court said, “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.”

In the judgment, the court further said, “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. 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. 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. There are no reasons, much less sufficient and adequate reasons, available on the record to impose a lesser sentence.”