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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Corruption (including Public Corruption) |
Sentence: |
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Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
1993 |
Year Convicted: |
2011 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
India |
County or Region of Crime: |
Karnataka |
City of Crime: |
Mahalakshmi Layout |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Four police officers -- KB Bettegowda, circle inspector of police, KP Gopal, police sub inspector (crime), Hanumaiah, head constable, and Ravikumar, constable -- were codefendants wrongly convicted on July 15, 2011 of voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful confinement to extort confession, forgery, abetment of suicide and causing disappearance of evidence of offence. The charges were based on the alleged treatment of a prisoner at the police station in Mahalakshmi Layout, Karnataka, India. At about 3 am on March 23, 1993 the prisoner was found to be attempting suicide by tying the bed sheet to the door of the lockup. He was taken to the KC General Hospital where he died about 4 am on March 23. After his death the man's widow alleged that he was arrested on February 13, 1993 and that prior to his death he would complain to her during her visits that police were illtreating him. She also alleged that her husband died due to police torture. She also alleged that three police officers raped her at the police station when she went to visit her husband on March 10, 1993. Eight police officers were eventually charged after an investigation. Eighteen years after the alleged incident a trial was held by the Fast Track Court. The officers defense was that the rape and mistreatment incidents alleged by the man's widow were fabricated, because the man had been arrested on March 22, 1993, and the next day he commtited suicide. Four of the officers were acquitted, while Bettegowda, Gopal, Hanumaiah, and Ravikumar were convicted. The prosecution appealed to overturn the acquittals, and the convicted officers appealed their convictions. In October 2015 India's High Court affirmed the acquittal of the four officers acquitted at trial, and acquitted the four officers who were convicted. The High Court ruled that oral and documentary evidence proved the man was arrested and brought to the station on March 22, 1993 and around 3 am on March 23, he attempted suicide and was taken to a hospital where he died while being administered treatment." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Fabricated allegations against the defendants. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"In October 2015 India's High Court affirmed the acquittal of the four officers acquitted at trial, and acquitted the four officers who were convicted. The High Court ruled that oral and documentary evidence proved the man was arrested and brought to the station on March 22, 1993 and around 3 am on March 23, he attempted suicide and was taken to a hospital where he died while being administered treatment." |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Sex: |
Male |
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Information Source 1: |
"Accused cops acquitted in ’93 lockup death and rape case, By Shyam Prasad (S. Bangalore Mirror Bureau), Bangalore Mirror, October 13, 2015" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/others/Accused-cops-acquitted-in-93-lockup-death-and-rape-case/articleshow/49328561.cms |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org