Candidate for YSRC Mandapeta found guilty in a 28-year-old case

The special court for SC/ST crimes in Visakhapatnam has convicted YSRC MLC Thota Trimurthulu and five others to eighteen months in jail, almost twenty-eight years after they tonsured and shaved the moustaches of two Dalit youngsters in Ramachandrapuram mandal.

They also had to pay a fine of Rs 2.50 lakh. But the court gave Trimurthulu and the other guilty parties bail right away. The tragedy happened in the East Godavari district’s Venkatayapalem hamlet on December 29, 1996.

Trimurthulu, an independent from the Ramachandrapuram Assembly seat, ran and won the 1994 elections. The victims—Koti Chinna Raju and D Venkataratnam, daily wage workers in the energy department—were BSP employees at the time of the elections. During the polling process, they got into a fight with Trimurthulu’s supporters. Following the election victory of Trimurthulu, a Kapu leader, theft proceedings were filed against the two.

This resulted in a clash between the local Dalit youths and the followers of the Kapu politicians, which set off the tragedy. In addition to being physically abused, Raju and Venkataratnam also had their mustaches removed and their heads tonsured, along with three other people.~

Leaders of the opposition demand MLC be suspended.

KS Jawahar, a former minister and TDP leader, asked that Trimurthulu be expelled from the party by the YSRC. He said, “If Trimurthulu’s claims of being pro-Dalit are true, the YSRC should act against it immediately.” Legal experts, however, said that the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which requires the immediate disqualification of any legislator who is “convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years,” means that the judgment will not prevent him from running for office. In a similar vein, one cannot challenge a conviction for a sentence of at least two years in jail.

The trial of Trimurthulu had more than 140 adjournments.

Trimurthulu was taken into custody and a case was registered under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. After serving 87 days in prison, he was released on bond.

The victims were purportedly persuaded to change to a different faith in order to prevent the SC/ST Act from being used against them. This is how the case evolved over time.

Trimurthulu switched to the TDP during this period after winning his first election, and he was elected again in 1999. In the elections of 2004 and 2009, Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose defeated him.

Trimurthulu joined the venerable party after the Praja Rajyam Party’s merger with the Congress, and he became victorious in the 2012 bye-election. In 2014, he ran as a TDP candidate and won. But in 2019, Ch Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna of YSRC defeated him.

He became an MLC after joining the YSRC and is now running for the Mandapeta Assembly seat.

The trial court was instructed to expedite by the HC. For this reason, the decision was made today. There were around 140 adjournments throughout the trial. Trimurthulu requested bail shortly after the decision, and he was granted it. Trimurthulu said that he will file an appeal with the HC and respect the ruling. Leader of the TDP KS Jawahar asked that Trimurthulu be expelled from the party by the YSRC.

The Representation of the People Act, 1951, which requires the immediate disqualification of any legislator who is “convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years,” according to legal experts, means that the judgment will not prevent him from running for office.