Jharkhand High Court Commutes Death Sentence Due To Split Verdict Between Division Bench

Recently, the Jharkhand High Court commuted a death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground that a split opinion of the Division Bench on the question of conviction made it impermissible to affirm the capital punishment, even in the absence of any mitigating circumstances.Justice Gautam Kumar Choudhary was hearing a death reference after a Division Bench of the Jharkhand High Court had delivered conflicting opinions. Previously, Justice Rangon Mukhopadhyay was of the view that the charge against the appellants had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt and that they were entitled to acquittal, whereas Justice Sanjay Prasad held the appellants guilty of the offences charged and confirmed the death sentence.The appellants had been convicted and sentenced by the Trial Court for the offences under Sections 148, 302 read with Sections 149, 120B, 109, 396, 307, 333, 353 and 427 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 27 of the Arms Act, and Section 17 of the CLA Act. Both appellants were sentenced to death by the Trial Court.According to the prosecution, the Superintendent of Police was travelling from Dumka to Pakur with an armed escort party when they were ambushed by extremists in a forested area. In the intense firing that followed, the Superintendent of Police and five other police personnel were mortally wounded while performing their duties. Five officers died on the spot, and one succumbed while being shifted for treatment. The appellants were later implicated as an accused.The High Court ultimately upheld the conviction of the appellants, holding that the direct eyewitness account of the injured members of the police escort party sufficiently established their involvement in the ambush. The Court held that, in light of the testimony of the injured witnesses, the charges stood proved.On the question of sentence, Justice Choudhary observed that there was no doubt that the ambush was a carefully pre-meditated assault on the Superintendent of Police, who had been spearheading anti-extremist operations. The attack was cold-bloodedly planned and ruthlessly executed, resulting in the martyrdom of six police personnel, including the SP. The Court emphasised that the assault was not merely on the police force, but on the sovereign authority of the State itself, exercised through its law-enforcement agencies. Allowing armed groups to challenge and overwhelm the executive arm of the State, the Court noted, would imperil the foundations of the rule of law.However, the High Court also took into account the fact that the Division Bench had delivered divergent opinions on the question of guilt. The Court held that existence of such a split in judicial opinion was, by itself, considered sufficient to commute the death sentence. The Court held:“67. Despite the gravity of offence and absence of any mitigating factor in favour of the appellants, there is one factor that weighs heavily for commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment—that is difference of opinion on the point of conviction. In the present appeals, one of the Hon'ble Judge of this Court had dissented and in his separate judgment had recorded a judgment of acquittal. Therefore, it will not be proper to confirm the death sentence. As held in Pandurang v. State of Hyderabad, (1954) 2 SCC 826.”Thus, the High Court upheld the conviction of the appellants but commuted the sentence to imprisonment for life.Case Title: State of Jharkhand v. Sukhlal @ Prabir Murmu and OthersLL Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Jha) 93Case Number: Death Reference No. 04 of 2018Appearance: Mr. S. K. Murtty, and Mr. Jitendra S. Singh appeared for the Appellants. Mrs. Priya Shrestha appeared for the Respondent.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Jharkhand High Court Commutes Death Sentence Due To Split Verdict Between Division Bench

Rushil Batra

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