Belgavi Stripping Incident: Karnataka High Court Directs Completion Of Trial Against Accused Within A Year

The Karnataka High Court has directed that trial against the accused in Belgavi stripping incident, where an elderly woman was assaulted, paraded naked and tied to an electric pole, be completed within a year.

A division bench of Chief Justice N V Anjaria and Justice Krishna S Dixit said, “The trial against the accused persons shall be completed by the competent Court where it is pending, expeditiously within an outer limit of one year. The Registry of this Court shall issue intimation to the Competent Court where the criminal case is pending in this regard.”

The direction came while disposing of the suo-motu petition, after Court was satisfied with the measures taken by the State for payment of Rs. 5 lakh compensation and allotment of two acres land to the victim. Court was also informed that three accused were nabbed, the absconding accused was arrested and sent to judicial custody and statement of the victim and other 23 witnesses was also recorded.

However, to ensure well-being of the victim, Court has directed the Welfare Officer of the Women and Child Welfare Department to visit the victim every two months. "Further, the welfare officer shall further ensure that the victim and her family members stay with comfort of essential and basic life amenities and lead life satisfactorily with availability of such basic necessities to live the life. The welfare officer shall submit the report upon each such visit, to the District Superintendent of Police who shall in turn, supervise,” Court ordered.

Earlier, the Court had criticised the inaction of approximately 50 to 60 bystanders who failed to intervene and rescue the woman. “We are of the opinion that unless certain solid steps are taken, to fix a collective responsibility so that it would also be in tune with the principle enacted in Article 15 of the Constitution. The time has come to fix such collective responsibility and in our opinion, these are the situations which we are sorry to say reflect a collective...or reflect that as members of society, we are only interested in acting towards securing only selfish motives.”

Appearance: Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty assisted by learned Additional Advocate General Prathima Honnapura, a/w Additional Government Advocate Niloufer Akbar for respondents

Case Title: HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA VS. STATE OF KARNATAKA AND OTHERS

Case No: Writ Petition No 27927/2023

Citation No: 2024 LiveLaw (Kar) 189

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