CUTTACK: In a significant judgement, the Orissa High Court on Monday acquitted two men who had been sentenced to death for the brutal murder of a family of three in Angul district in 2017, citing lack of conclusive evidence.
A division bench comprising Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra allowed the criminal appeals filed by Prakash Behera and Nandakishor Sethy, setting aside their conviction and death sentence pronounced by the additional sessions judge, Athamallik, on September 27, 2024.
Behera and Sethy had been convicted for the gruesome killing of a couple and their three-year-old son at Gambharimaliha village under Kishore Nagar police limits on October 9, 2017. Their throats were allegedly slit in what the trial court termed a “rarest of rare” case warranting capital punishment.
The prosecution’s story was that the accused unlawfully entered the home of Biranchi Naik with the intent to commit robbery and murder. They allegedly abducted Biranchi Naik and his minor son Ekalabya Naik, and later murdered his wife Tarani Naik. The accused reportedly stole cash and used a ‘Katuri’ (sharp-edged weapon), during the crime.
However, while reviewing the case for confirmation of the death sentence, the bench found glaring gaps in the prosecution’s case. “There is no clinching evidence relating to the involvement of the appellants in the commission of triple murder,” the judgement stated, adding, ‘The reasoning assigned by the trial court in convicting the appellants seems to be based on conjecture and suspicion, which has no place in the legal proof of guilt.’
The bench observed that the trial court’s verdict appeared to be rooted in “sheer moral conviction” rather than firm legal evidence. “The prosecution has failed to establish the charges against the appellants beyond all reasonable doubt,” the court noted.
While acknowledging the grave nature of the crime, the court emphasised the fundamental principle of criminal law that the benefit of doubt must go to the accused. “In view of the evidence available on record... we are constrained to give the benefit of doubt to the appellants,” the judgement said.
As a result, the court acquitted the duo of all charges under sections 302, 364, 201, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and ordered their immediate release from jail, unless required in any other case.