The Hindu : Lower court order modified

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 03, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Lower court order modified

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, APRIL 2. The High Court on Thursday modified the life imprisonment awarded to an Assistant Director of Prosecutions, Mangalore, and sentenced him to three years' rigorous imprisonment.

Balappa Gowda and his son, Padmanabha, residents of Sullia, and Shivananda Mundodi, Assistant Director of Prosecutions, were found guilty of murdering Shivaprasad Mundodi at Sullia on April 16, 1996.

Shivaprasad was the brother of Shivananda Mundodi. The prosecution's case was that Shivaprasad was murdered by Gowda and his son at the behest of Shivananda following a property dispute.

The Sessions Judge, Mangalore, had sentenced the accused to life imprisonment. The accused had appealed against the order in the High Court.

A Division Bench comprising Justice B. Padmaraj and Justice Mohan Shantangouder confirmed the life imprisonment of Gowda and his son and modified the sentence of Shivananda.

Bail plea dismissed

Justice A.C. Kabbin dismissed a bail petition by Aprajit Biswanath Basak, one of the accused in the murder of K.R. Anantapadmanabha Acharya at Hotel Ashok in Bangalore on May 7, 2001 and directed that the trial be completed in three months.

According to the prosecution, Basak and two others had murdered Acharya in the hotel room and administered sleeping drugs to his friend, Narasimhan, before taking away Rs. 5.17 lakh.

In his petition, Basak maintained that the trial had been delayed and that he was an undertrial for the past two-and-half-years.

Justice Kabbin, while rejecting the petition, observed that the State was not responsible for the delay of trial.

He directed Basak to cooperate in disposing of the trial in three months.

Petition dismissed

A Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice, N.K. Jain, and Justice V.G. Sabhahit dismissed a public interest petition by K. Anantha and seven others urging the court to direct the Government to fill vacancies by recruiting disabled persons.

The petitioners submitted that they were visually impaired.

They sought the implementation of the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.

The petition was dismissed when the Government filed objections stating that steps had been taken to implement the provisions of the Act.

The judges observed that they had earlier passed orders on a similar petition and the Government was supposed to comply with them.

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