CUTTAK: Orissa high court has acquitted a 42-year-old murder convict, out on bail after 14 years in jail, due to insufficient evidence.
A bench of justices Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Chittaranjan Dash in its March 7 judgment set aside a 2008 life sentence given to Madan Kanhar by a sessions judge in Phulbani district for the murder of a 20-year-old woman in 2005. In 2008, Kanhar had appealed in HC, which granted him bail in 2019.
The woman had gone to collect firewood in a jungle near her village in Phulbani but did not return. Her mother found her dead in the jungle on April 12, 2005, with injuries on the head and other parts of the body. Kanhar, a resident of the same village, was held primarily as the deceased had picked up a quarrel with him a few days ago.
“Discrepancies in eyewitness testimony, inconsistencies in discovery of evidence, and the inconclusive forensic findings collectively fail to establish an unbroken chain of circumstances leading solely to the appellant’s guilt,” HC said. According to the bench, “while the postmortem report confirmed the homicidal nature of death, it does not conclusively link the appellant (Kanhar) to the crime”. “The testimony of the supposed eyewitness lacks the sterling quality required for unassailable reliance,” the HC said. The judges said “in the absence of unimpeachable and irrefutable evidence, the benefit of doubt must necessarily go to the appellant, as no conviction can be sustained on mere suspicion or weak circumstantial evidence”.
“The administration of justice demands nothing less than proof beyond reasonable doubt, and in its absence, the appellant’s culpability remains unproven,” the bench observed.
Kanhar’s advocate Jambeswar Pati said his client had been making a living as an agricultural labourer since being released on bail six years ago.