The Dharwad Bench of the Karnataka High Court on Thursday, November 14, granted bail to 99 of the 101 individuals convicted in a 2014 Marakumbi atrocity case involving violence against Scheduled Caste (SC) members in Marakumbi village in Koppal district. The incident, which occurred nearly a decade ago, resulted in 98 of the accused being sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court last month.
The bail order, passed by Justices Sreenivas Harish Kumar and T G Shivashankare Gowda, included the condition of a Rs 50,000 bond and a surety from each convict. The High Court decision follows an October 24 judgement from the Principal District and Sessions Court in Koppal, where Judge C Chandrashekar sentenced the 98 individuals to life under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Three other convicted individuals, who belong to SC and ST communities, were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and fined Rs 2,000 each.
The court’s original verdict was unprecedented, marking one of Karnataka’s largest convictions for an atrocity case involving SC/ST communities. The Marakumbi violence erupted on August 28, 2014, after Dalit youths questioned practices of untouchability. Enraged, the accused allegedly stormed into the Dalit colony, torching huts, demolishing homes, and assaulting residents.
During the bail hearing, advocate Anand Kolli, representing the petitioners, highlighted issues such as delays in the FIR filing and the conduct of an identification parade. The bench noted that all 99 convicts had been on bail throughout the decade-long trial and did not engage in any actions that might have compromised the proceedings or harmed victims. The bench also said that relations between the village’s accused and victim communities had since normalised, with both groups leading “peaceful lives.”
It is worth noting that the prime accused in the case, Manjunath, did not seek bail. Additionally, one of the convicts, Ramanna Bhovi, had passed away before the bail hearing.
The case was initiated by the Gangavathi police, which initially filed charges against 117 individuals. However, by the time of the trial, 101 accused were taken into custody, while several others had either died or been excluded from the charges.