CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Thursday acquitted a 47-year-old man of charges of killing his nephew after he had spent 17 years in jail.
The division bench of Justice SK Sahoo and Justice Chittaranjan Dash said, even though a seven-year-old child lost his life and a grave and heinous crime had been committed, there was no satisfactory proof of guilt against the appellant Samara Mahakud. He has to be given the benefit of doubt.
The incident had occurred at Khajurimundi under Keonjhar police station limits on February 13, 2007. Samara was accused of killing his brother’s son Guru by slitting his throat and throwing his body in a forest.
The court of Sessions Judge, Keonjhar, convicted Samara and sentenced him to life imprisonment on February 20, 2008. Though he filed a jail criminal appeal (JCRLA) against the trial court judgment on July 16, 2008, the Orissa High Court Legal Services Committee had to assign advocate Bikash Chandra Parija, a lawyer in its panel, to represent him only on September 24, 2022 after finding that no one was appearing on his behalf.
In the judgment delivered on Thursday, the bench said, “The circumstances of this case have no definite tendency to unerringly point towards the guilt of the appellant. There is a long mental distance between ‘may be true’ and ‘must be true’ and the same divides conjectures from sure conclusions.” The bench ordered immediate release of the acquitted convict.