'Ruthless Criminal Also Entitled To Life Of Dignity': Orissa HC Commutes Death Sentence Awarded To 9 Persons For Witchcraft Triple Murder

The Orissa High Court on Wednesday (January 15) commuted the death sentence awarded to nine persons by the Sessions Judge, Rayagada for committing murder of three members of a family in 2016, suspecting their involvement in witchcraft.While lessening the sentence to imprisonment till the end of natural life, the Division Bench of Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Radha Krishna Pattanaik was of the view that reformation of the condemned prisoners cannot be ruled out and held –“We should not forget that the criminal, however ruthless he might be, is nevertheless a human being and is entitled to a life of dignity notwithstanding his crime. It is for the prosecution and the Court to determine whether such a person, notwithstanding his crime, can be reformed and rehabilitated.”Prosecution CaseThe informant Melita Sabar lodged an FIR on 16.09.2016 alleging that her father Asina Sabar, mother Amabaya Sabar and elder sister Ashamani Sabar (deceased persons) were murdered in the evening hours of 09.09.2016 by the present appellants/condemned prisoners along with a juvenile offender.In the FIR, she narrated that after being informed that her parents along with her elder sister were tied and were being tortured in a cowshed, she rushed to the spot. Upon reaching at the spot, she was also tied to a stump by the appellants. She further alleged that the appellants assaulted her father, mother and elder sister and were accusing them of killing some of the co-villagers by practising sorcery. They also abused the deceased persons and held them responsible for persisting fever and ill-health of some other villagers. The informant had further stated that one of the appellants brought out a syringe filled with some pesticides, pierced its needle in the mouth, cheek and eyes of her deceased elder sister and asked her to tell the truth or else he would kill her. At that time, the other nine appellants were mercilessly assaulting her parents by means of lathis. Thereafter, the appellants took the deceased persons, one after another, to a burial ground where they assaulted the three persons, who were already in a moribund condition. Merciless assault on the deceased resulted in their death whereafter they were buried. The appellants asked the informant not to disclose the fact before anyone and threatened of her dire consequences, in case she divulges about the occurrence before the police. On 15.09.2016, she came to know that the appellants exhumed the dead bodies from the place of burial and cremated them.After registration of the FIR, investigation was carried out and upon its completion, a charge-sheet was filed against the appellants under Sections 302, 201, 342, 506 read with Section 34 of the IPC and Section 4 of the Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2013 (the 2013 Act).Trial Court's OrderAfter analysing the oral and documentary evidence, the trial Court found that the appellants, after assaulting the three deceased persons in the cow-shed, took them one after another to a different place in a moribund state and the informant is an eye witness to the first scene of the occurrence.It further held that the appellants were last seen with the deceased persons on 09.09.2016 at about 8 PM, to which the informant is a witness, when they shifted the deceased persons to another place and they again came in contact with the informant after about one hour, but thereafter the three deceased were never seen alive.Considering the time gap between the company of both the parties and the death of the deceased persons to be significantly small, the Court was of the view that possibility of others intervening in the killing of the deceased persons can be safely ruled out.Accordingly, it held all the nine appellants guilty for commission of offences under Sections 342/364/365/302/201/506/34 of the IPC read with Section 4 of the 2013 Act. Holding that the collective conscience of the society was shocked by the crime, the trial Court held it to be a 'rarest of rare' case warranting imposition of death sentence on all the appellants for commission of offence under Section 302/34 of the IPC.High Court's FindingsAfter examining the evidence on record, the Court found that the informant is the solitary eye-witness to a part of the crime. It was argued on behalf of the appellant that she, being a close relative of the deceased persons, is an 'interested witness' and thus, her evidence should be viewed with suspicion. The Court was, however, not convinced by such contention and held –“We are not inclined to accept such submission as 'related' is not equivalent to 'interested'. The witness may be called 'interested' only when he or she has derived some benefit from the result of a litigation in the decree in a civil case, or in seeing an accused person punished. A witness, who is a natural one and is the only possible eye witness in the circumstances of a case, cannot be said to be `interested'.”It further clarified that merely because the...

'Ruthless Criminal Also Entitled To Life Of Dignity': Orissa HC Commutes Death Sentence Awarded To 9 Persons For Witchcraft Triple Murder

Jyoti Prakash Dutta

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