HC upholds convictions in man beaten to death case

The Telangana High Court dismissed the appeal filed by convicted persons sentenced to life imprisonment for the offence of beating a person to death, suspecting him to be involved in sorcery.

The bench held that the prosecution had established its case against the appellants (convicts). The prosecution case was that in April 2003, Chinthala Janardhan and Chinthala Sathyam from one family of Seerole died within 10 days due to ill health. Their family members and other villagers, suspected that the deaths were due to sorcery allegedly practiced by Madipeddi Ramulu.

Eleven members of Chinthala Janardhan’s family and some villagers took Ramulu from a mango grove,

THE BENCH held that the prosecution had established its case against the appellants (convicts).

THE SESSIONS Judge’s Court at Mahbubabad had convicted 11 members of a family to life imprisonment for killing the man accusing him of sorcery.

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beat a confession out of him. They also brought Kummarikuntla Muthaiah and Yerrabati Gopaiah, also alleging responsibility for sorcery, tied them to poles and tortured them.

The family members and a mob that had gathered assaulted the three police constables who rushed to the place to rescue the victims. Additional police force of Mahbubabad was brought to disperse the mob.

One of the victims, Yerrabati Gopaiah succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment. An FIR was registered and police arrested 39 members including 11 members of the Chinthala family. The Sessions Judge’s Court at Mahbubabad convicted 11 family members to life imprisonment. Aggrieved, the family filed an appeal with the High Court in 2012, alleging that the witnesses were biased due to political rivalry. They said that some of the victims were convicted in a case lodged due to outraging the modesty of the wife of Chintala Narsaiah, the first appellant among the 11 members.

However, the High Court was not inclined to set aside the conviction slapped against the appellants.

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