Wednesday, the judges Sreenivas Harish Kumar and TG Shivashankar Gowda of the Dharawad bench of the Karnataka High Court stayed the sentence of the 99 convicts and granted them bail against a bond of ₹1 lakh each.

The bench noted that the 99 convicts were out on bail during the trial in the 10-year-long case.

During this period, none of them engaged in any activity that affected the trial of the case or any of the victims, the Court noted.

In granting bail to the convicts, the High Court took note of the plaintiffs’ lawyer’s submission that in the village, the victims as well as the accused had long since forgotten what had happened and were now leading “quiet lives”.