The Karnataka High Court has ordered two magistrate courts to submit a file on the accusations related to the torture of four men who were accused in the Gauri Lankesh Murder case, when they didn’t comply to the judicial processes. According to the reports, the accusations are serious, as Justice KN Phaneendra has said, that the courts should be able to submit a report on the accusations as soon as ten days, from the date of the receipt of the order. Amol Kale, an accused in the case, was reportedly beaten, slapped, and punched by the police officers while he was in their custody.
Lawyer, NP Amrutesh, in his affidavit, said that the magistrates also didn’t follow the process that the supreme court had set for behavior with the people who are accused, and in the custody of the police. Neither was a medial examination carried out when it was reported that the accused had faced torture by the police. The injury marks on the body of the accused were recorded by the magistrate in response to the complaint. A complaint about the violence had been made on May 31, but it was ignored by the Magistrate.
Gauri Lankesh was a senior journalist and activist who was shot dead 5 September 2017, by two men on a motor bike. Parashuram Waghmore, a 26 year old man, confessed of murdering Gauri, and said during a SIT investigation that he killed her to save his religion. He also stated that he shouldn’t have killed her. The murder of Gauri led to a nation wide debate about freedom of speech and violence against people who try to speak against the government, as well as violence meted out by intolerant groups. Parashuram is said to be a member of the right wing fringe group, Sri Ram Sene.
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