Govt invites wrath on Kambalapalli incident

Bangalore, May 13 (UNI) The JD(S)-BJP coalition government in Karnataka drew flak for not taking seriously the issue of 2001 Kambalapalli incident in which a trial court acquitted all accused in the case in which seven Dalits were burnt alive.

Various Dalit leaders participating in the CPI(M) sponsored state level 'Round Table Conference' on the issue of acquittal of all the accused in the case in which houses belonging to Dalit community were torched and seven of them burnt alive, accused the state government of soft-peddling on the issue of re-opening of the case and ensuring justice was delivered.

CPI(M) State Secretary G N Nagaraj condemned the state government for not showing any interest in re-opening the case for rendering justice to the victims and punishing the guilty.

Mr Nagaraj alleged that prosecution witnesses had turned hostile during the trial facing backlash from the vested interests who were behind the most inhuman incident in the history of the state.

They asked the state government to take initiative and appeal to High Court on the verdict of the trial court on the line of Best Bakery and Jessica Lal murder case.

Mr Nagaraj alleged while several prosecution witnesses turned hostile, many government witnesses did not turn up for the trial despite several notices being served.

Several Dalit leaders including Indudhar, Rajshekhar and Congress member in the Karnataka Legislative Council L Hanumanthaiah also spoke on the occasion.

CPI(M) State Secretariat Member Maruthi Manpade urged Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to immediately convene a meeting of all the Dalit organisations and take measures to render justice to the victims.

If the state government failed to take initiative, the people may lose faith on the judiciary, he cautioned.

UNI