HC dismisses pleas opposing acquittal of accused

Bangalore: The high court on Thursday dismissed two criminal appeals challenging the December 4, 2006 order of a Kolar court which acquitted all the 32 accused in the infamous March 2000 Kambalapalli carnage. Seven dalits were burnt alive by a mob of upper-caste people in the incident.
Referring to the Best Bakery case, a division bench headed by Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar held that all eyewitnesses have turned hostile and none of them, including the father, mother and sister of the deceased, has come forward to support the prosecution.“Under these circumstances, this is not a fit case either for granting of permission to the prosecution to record more evidence or for a re-trial,” the bench observed.
“Merely because some unimportant witnesses were not examined, the court cannot come to the prosecution’s aid. Additional evidence cannot be permitted as per the whims and fancies of the prosecution,” the bench said. It dismissed the appeals filed by the government and a complainant, Venkatarayappa. It noted that of the 25 witnesses mentioned in the chargesheet, 22 were examined and the remaining three died during the trial.
On the evening of March 11, 2000, seven dalits were burnt alive in their house in Kambalpalli village near Chintamani town, Kolar district. The incident happened after a group of dalits lodged a police complaint against some upper-caste people. After a long trial, on December 4, 2006, the 2nd additional sessions judge, Kolar, acquitted all the accused on grounds that the eyewitnesses had turned hostile.