CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday commuted the death sentence awarded to Sanjeet Dash for murdering his wife, holding that though the crime was extremely barbaric, brutal and reflected a heightened sense of depravity, it did not meet the legal test of the rarest of rare cases.
A division bench of Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak and Justice Sashikanta Mishra, while deciding the state’s death reference for confirmation, sentenced Dash to life imprisonment with a 35-year minimum custody cap before he can be considered for remission. The bench also directed the state to pay `10 lakh each to his two minor daughters as compensation.
Dash was convicted by the 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, Bhubaneswar, on August 1, 2024, and sentenced to death for killing his wife Saraswati Dash at their Ghatikia residence under Bharatpur police limits on June 9, 2022.
According to the prosecution, Dash assaulted his wife with a knife and also slit the throat of their six-year-old daughter, who survived. The postmortem report recorded 49 stab injuries on the deceased.
The High Court said the trial court had apparently become influenced by highly emotive considerations while treating the case as falling within the rarest of rare category.
“Law moves on hard facts alone,” the bench observed, adding that the trial court had failed to properly balance aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
While confirming the conviction under Section 302 IPC and 307 IPC, the bench set aside the conviction and sentence under Sections 326 and 324 IPC. It held that ordinary life imprisonment would also be inadequate, as the convict could otherwise become eligible for consideration of premature release after 14 years.
The High Court observed that Dash was 46 when the offence was committed and is now around 50. “The mitigating circumstances noted above outweigh the aggravating ones,” it said, fixing 35 years as the minimum period of custody.
While senior advocate Soura Chandra Mohapatra was appointed as Amicus Curiae to defend the condemned prisoner/appellant, additional government advocate Partha Sarathi Nayak represented the state.
The bench took note of the fact that Dash’s two daughters, aged 10 and four, had already been awarded `5 lakh each under the victim compensation scheme. It ordered an additional `10 lakh each, directing that both amounts be kept in fixed deposits until they become majors.
The District Legal Services Authority, Khurda, was also directed to monitor the children preferably by women para-legal volunteers every six months.