Belagavi: A local court Wednesday convicted 12 people in connection with the Dalit woman nude parade case that was reported from Vantamuri village of Karnataka’s Belagavi district.
The 42-year-old woman was dragged out of her house, stripped, and paraded December 10, 2023.
She was later tied to an electric pole and assaulted, reportedly because her son had eloped with a girl from the village.
The violence was allegedly unleashed on the boy’s mother by the family members of the girl.
The Karnataka High Court had strongly criticised the state government for the ‘failure’ of the Police Department to prevent the incident.
The 10th Additional District and Sessions Court Judge, Belagavi, H. S. Manjunath, sentenced all 12 accused to five years of rigorous imprisonment.
The court convicted the accused under 12 sections and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 under each section.
The convicted people have been identified as Basappa Nayaka, Raju Nayaka, Kempanna Nayaka, Parvathi Nayaka, Yallavva Nayaka, Lakkappa Nayaka, Gangavva, Sangeetha Hegganayaka, Santhosh Nayaka, Shobha Nayaka, Lakkavva Nayaka and Shivappa Vannur.
After the pronouncement of the verdict, family members of the convicted people gathered in large numbers, became emotional, and broke down. The convicted persons also broke into tears inside the courtroom.
The incident had proved to be a major embarrassment to the ruling Congress-led government, as it occurred during the Winter Session of the Karnataka Assembly in Belagavi.
A Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court, headed by the then Chief Justice P.B. Varale and Justice Krishna S. Dixit, had expressed strong outrage over the incident and observed: “Imagine the fear among other women. They will feel unsafe in the country. Such an incident did not even take place in the Mahabharata. Draupadi had Lord Krishna, who came to her rescue, but in the modern world, no one came to help this woman. Unfortunately, this is a world of Duryodhanas and Dushasanas.”
The High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and registered a PIL. It was noted that while a few villagers attempted to prevent the crime, the majority watched the atrocity as mute spectators.
The Karnataka Police later felicitated police personnel and locals who had made courageous attempts to prevent the stripping and parading of the Dalit woman at Vantamuri village in Belagavi district.
PSI Manjunath Hulakunda and five other police personnel were also felicitated for rushing to the spot promptly and initiating action.
The state government had also awarded two acres of land to the victim.