Mangalore: Historic Judgement - Man Gets Jail Until Death for Sexual Assault and Murder

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Apr 4: Mangalore's second additional and sessions court has delivered a historic judgement on 39-year-old Dinesh Gowda for sexually assaulting and murdering dalit women 28-year-old Sarojini in 2010, October 3.

The hearing of the case was over on Saturday March 31, and the verdict was delivered on Tuesday April 3 by judge G D Narasinham Murthy.

On October 3, 2010, Sarojini left for Kaikamba to buy clothes at 11.30 am, never to return. Next day, her body was found near an unused pump shed at Ordoor. The body was found in a half naked state, with the head hit by a stone.

The then Panambur circle inspector Valentine D'Souza took charge of investigation of the case and cracked the murder within four days. Dinesh Gowda was employed in a rubber farm, where Sarojini was also working. Later, Sarojini left her job and joined a cashew company. During investigation it was found that Dinesh was trying to pursue Sarojini for sex, but his attempt was not successful while she was working with him at the rubber farm..

It was revealed during the interrogation that Dinesh Gowda took Sarojini forcefully to a place near Ordoor which comes under Bajpe police station limits, and attempted to rape her. When Dinesh did not succeed in intention, he hit her with a huge stone and killed her on the spot.

Having escaped from the spot, Dinesh Gowda claimed innocence, but the police team led by Valentine D'Souza zeroed in on Dinesh and nabbed him on October 7.

The court sentenced Dinesh to life until his last breath, according to IPC section 302 and 307. As the victim was from a backward caste, the sentence becomes more crucial. This is one of the rarest cases in the history of Mangalore as far as verdict is concerned.