BENGALURU: In what could be a historic achievement for the judiciary, a Karnataka court convicted a 75-year-old murder accused in just 11 days after the crime took place, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Chennabasaiah bludgeoned his 65-year-old wife Puttamma to death, suspecting her fidelity, at Valase village of Challakere taluk in
Chitradurga district on June 27.
The retribution was swift: Neighbours alerted jurisdictional Talaku police who arrested the accused the same day. Chennabasaiah initially denied involvement in the murder, but spilled the beans upon interrogation by police personnel.
Talaku police, led by Challakere circle inspector Thammanna, filed a chargesheet in the case on June 29, two days after the incident. The Forensic Sciences Laboratory submitted its report to the court in a day. Public prosecutor B
Jayaram argued the case before
Chitradurga principal district and sessions court judge S B Vastramutt, who delivered the verdict on Saturday.
Former
Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde it was a historic case in the Indian judiciary. “More than 10 years are spent on litigation in some cases in local courts, and by the time they come to the higher court, it would take a lot of time. This sort of speedy trial in criminal cases will give hope to the public,” he added.
According to National Judicial Data, there are around 22,76,757 cases pending over 10 years in various courts of the country as on Sunday, while 44,12,922 cases are pending for 5 to 10 years and 79,08,540 cases for 2 to 5 years as on Sunday.
Chitradurga SP Srinivas Joshi congratulated his staff for speedy work. “We have set an example for speedy disposal and judgment in this case,” he said.
(representative image)