CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has acquitted Madan Kanhar of charges of killing a 20-year-old girl in 2005 citing lack of evidence.
Kanhar was in jail for 14 years before he was granted bail by the high court on April 19, 2019. The court of Sessions Judge, Phulbani, had convicted and sentenced him to life imprisonment on January 2, 2008.
The trial was undertaken based on the case registered at the Khajuripada police station. Kanhar of Titrapanga village was accused of killing the girl of the same village with an axe for picking up a quarrel with him some days ago. Kanhar (then 25) was arrested on April 13, 2005.
Kanhar had filed a jail criminal appeal in the high court challenging the trial court judgment on April 7, 2008. On his behalf, advocate Jambeswar Pati argued the case.
While delivering judgment on his appeal on March 7, the division bench of Justices SK Sahoo and Chittaranjan Dash said, “In the instant case, the discrepancies in the eyewitness testimony, the inconsistencies in the discovery of evidence, and the inconclusive forensic findings collectively fail to establish an unbroken chain of circumstances leading solely to the appellant’s guilt.”
“The testimony of the supposed eyewitness, lacks the sterling quality required for unassailable reliance. Moreover, while the postmortem report confirms the homicidal nature of death, it does not conclusively link the appellant to the crime. Therefore, in the absence of unimpeachable and irrefutable evidence, the benefit of doubt must necessarily go to the appellant, as no conviction can be sustained on mere suspicion or weak circumstantial evidence,” the bench observed.