Image showing a gavel (for representation).
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Shivamogga: A bed-ridden 90-year-old man has been convicted for encroaching 36 guntas of government land at Bhadrapura in Shikaripur taluk of the district.
The Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Special Court in Bengaluru has awarded one-year simple imprisonment to Basappa.
The court also awarded simple imprisonment to Channaiah, 71, for encroaching on 25 guntas of government land.
The court pronounced its judgement July 25, asking them to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each.
If they fail to pay, they may have to undergo imprisonment for an additional three months. Now, they are out on bail.
Shikaripur tahsildar Mallesh B Pujar told DH that the then tahsildar had booked a case against the farmer for encroaching 36 guntas of land belonging to a tank in survey number 19, on the outskirts of Shikaripur two years ago.
“Now, the court has awarded sentence. We are waiting for the order copy from the court. We will clear the encroachment in 10 days,” Pujar said.
He said hundreds of such cases from the taluk are pending before the Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Special Court.
“We had asked people not to encroach government land as they would land in trouble in future.”
Appeal in HC
Raju B C, son of Channaiah, told DH, “we have already filed an appeal in the High Court of Karnataka, challenging the special court’s conviction and urged the court to direct the officials concerned not to reclaim the land as it is our of source of livelihood. The hearing is slated for September.”
Channaiah said, “we had been growing paddy, ginger, maize on three acres and 25 guntas of land at Bhadrapura village for the past many years. The 25 guntas had been earmarked for graveyard. The court had said that the land was not suitable for graveyard. But a criminal case was booked against my father for encroaching the land.”