14 years on, 21 given life term for killing Dalit woman in Karnataka

BENGALURU: A Tumakuru court brought a 14-year legal battle to an end on Thursday, sentencing 21 people, including two women, to life imprisonment for the murder of a 45-year-old Dalit woman in 2010, reports Rajiv Kalkod.

The convicts, all residents of Gopalapura in Tumakur district, were also fined Rs 13,500 each by third additional district sessions court judge A Nagi Reddy. Police officials had charged 27 people with murder; six suspects died during trial.

R Honamma, alias Dhaba Honnamma, was killed at Gopalapura on June 28, 2010. Her body, bearing 27 wounds, was discovered in a drain, triggering shockwaves in the community.

Honnamma, who had unsuccessfully contested two gram panchayat elections, had been planning to build a temple - a move that reportedly angered several fellow villagers. As part of her plans, she had stored wooden logs outside her home, which were later stolen.

When Honnamma filed a police complaint naming some villagers, the simmering tension erupted turned into deadly rivalry.

Public prosecutor BS Jyoti said that the situation took a violent turn when a mob of over 25 villagers attacked Honnamma as she was walking home from Huliyar village at night.

The group assaulted her with stones and dumped her body in a drain. Witnesses, including her close relatives, had "watched the incident in horror, unable to intervene". Two police officers, including a sub-inspector, were later suspended on charges of dereliction of duty.

Jyoti further added that there were 32 witnesses. "Statements of the eyewitnesses, including two close relatives of Honnamma, helped secure the conviction. Also, some of the villagers who deposed before the court stood their ground firmly," the public prosecutor said.

The convicts are Ranganath, Manjula, Thimmaraju, Raju (Devaraju), Srinivas, Anadaswamy, Venkataswamy, Venkatesh, Nagaraju, Rajappa, Hanumanthaiya, Gangadhar (Ganganna), Nanjundaiah, Satyappa, Satish, Chandrashekar, Rangaiya, Umesh, Channamma, Manju, and Swamy (Mohan Kumar).

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