After 14 years in jail, murder convict acquitted as HC cites ‘lack of evidence’ | India News

CUTTAK: Orissa excessive court docket has acquitted a 42-year-old murder convict, out on bail after 14 years in jail, attributable to inadequate proof.
A bench of justices Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Chittaranjan Dash in its March 7 judgment put aside a 2008 life sentence given to Madan Kanhar by a classes choose in Phulbani district for the murder of a 20-year-old girl in 2005. In 2008, Kanhar had appealed in HC, which granted him bail in 2019.
The girl had gone to gather firewood in a jungle close to her village in Phulbani however didn’t return. Her mom discovered her useless in the jungle on April 12, 2005, with accidents on the pinnacle and different components of the physique. Kanhar, a resident of the identical village, was held primarily as the deceased had picked up a quarrel with him a number of days in the past.
“Discrepancies in eyewitness testimony, inconsistencies in discovery of evidence, and the inconclusive forensic findings collectively fail to establish an unbroken chain of circumstances leading solely to the appellant’s guilt,” HC mentioned. According to the bench, “while the postmortem report confirmed the homicidal nature of death, it does not conclusively link the appellant (Kanhar) to the crime”. “The testimony of the supposed eyewitness lacks the sterling quality required for unassailable reliance,” the HC mentioned. The judges mentioned “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 administration of justice demands nothing less than proof beyond reasonable doubt, and in its absence, the appellant’s culpability remains unproven,” the bench noticed.
Kanhar’s advocate Jambeswar Pati mentioned his shopper had been making a dwelling as an agricultural labourer since being launched on bail six years in the past.