A Karnataka court has given life imprisonment for 21 accused persons on Thursday, November 22 in connection with the murder case of a Dalit woman reported in Tumakuru district in 2010. The order was passed by the Tumakuru Third Additional District and Sessions Court Judge Nagi Reddy who also imposed a fine of Rs 13,500 for each of the convicted persons. The incident took place on June 28, 2010, in Gopalapura village of Chikkanayakanahalli village in Tumakuru district.

The convicted persons had murdered Honnamma aka Dabha Honnamma by smashing her head with a huge stone. Jurisdictional Handanakere police had registered a case and slapped FIR on 27 accused persons belonging to the upper caste. The police had framed murder and atrocity cases against them. Then Dy SP Shivarudraswamy submitted a charge sheet against the accused in the case to the court.

Six of the accused persons died among a total of 27. Two of the convicts are women. The court had posted the matter for judgment. The judge has passed the order under the various sections of IPC and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The victim Honnamma was running a dhaba in Gopalapura village. She had unsuccesfully contested two gram panchayat elections and was planning the construction of a temple for which she had stored wooden logs. These wooden logs were burgled and Honnamma had lodged a police complaint, naming a few villagers which caused tensions between her and the villagers.

Earlier, in a historical judgement, a Karnataka court convicted 98 persons with life imprisonment on Oct 25 in an atrocity case reported in the Koppal district of the state. The judge C Chandrashekar passed the judgement. It is the first case in the history of the state that such a large number of accused are convicted of life imprisonment in an atrocity case, according to sources.

The incident had taken place in Marakumbi village in Gangavathi taluk. The Gangavathi police investigated the case and submitted the chargesheet. A total of 101 persons were produced before the court and among them, three accused persons belonging to the SC and ST communities were awarded five years of rigorous imprisonment with a Rs 5,000 fine and the rest belonging to the upper caste were awarded life imprisonment.

However, the Dharwad bench of the Karnataka High Court in a major decision on Nov 13 had stayed the order of the lower court convicting 98 persons of life imprisonment in an atrocity case. The bench has also granted bail for 97 convicted persons.