Murderer Who Died In 2007 Gets Clemency
Belgaum (Karnakata): President Pratibha Patil had commuted the death sentences of 35 convicts to life, but it came to light on Friday that one of the beneficiaries of her mercy died almost five years ago.
Bandu Baburao Tidke’s sentence for the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl came from the President’s office on June 2. Now, it has raised doubts about whether these clemency decisions, based on the advice of the Union home ministry, for many convicted of barbaric mass murders and rapes, were based on correct information or taken in haste. In Tidke’s case, either the state jail officials or Karnataka’s home department and subsequently the Union home ministry had not informed the President’s office about his death on October 18, 2007, aged 31.
Tidke was arrested for rape and murder in 2002. In 2005, he was given the death sentence by the Bagalkot district court. According to police investigation, Tidke, a sugarcane cutter from Beed district in Maharashtra, migrated in 2002 to Hulliyal in Jamkhandi taluk, Bagalkot district. He started dressing like a swamiji and stayed at the Sadashiva Appana Mutt in Bagalkot. That year, he dragged a 16-yearold girl from a nearby school to his underground room in the mutt, raped and murdered her. He left the body there and escaped to Shirdi where the police arrested him. The murder came to light only after four days when neighbours complained of a foul smell in the area.
Tidke appealed in the high court against the death sentence in 2006 but the court turned it down. Justices S R Bannurmath and N Ananda described him “like a devil in the garb of a swami”. Later, he sent a mercy appeal to the President. Since November 30, 2005, he was lodged in the Hindalga Jail in Belgaum.
Assistant superintendent of Hindalga Jail CR Tallur said: “According to jail records, Tidke was suffering from HIV and died in the government hospital in Belgaum on October 18, 2007 at 8.15am.” Five years, and that news has not travelled.
FIVE YEARS TOO LATE
2002 | Bandu Baburao Tidke, a sugarcane cutter from Beed district of Maharashtra, migrates to Bagalkot in Karnataka. Dresses up like a swamiji and lives in a mutt. Drags a 16-year-old schoolgirl to the mutt, rapes and murders her. Flees to Shirdi where he is arrested
2005 | Bagalkot court sentences Tidke to death. Sent to Hindalga Jail in Belgaum
2006 | Tidke appeals to HC against death sentence but court turns down petition. Tidke found to be HIV+
Oct 18, 2007 | Dies in Belgaum govt hospital
June 2, 2012 | President Prathiba Patil commutes long-dead Tidke’s death sentence to life term
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