Cuttack, Oct 2: The Odisha High Court on Tuesday quashed the order of a lower court that had taken cognisance of offences against BJD leader and former minister Pratap Jena as an accused in the Mahanga double murder case.
On September 25, 2023, the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Salipur observing a petition had taken cognisance of offences against Pratap Jena as an accused in the case.
Jena then approached the High Court challenging the order of the lower court. The High Court granted Jena interim protection against possible police action as an accused in the case on November 2, 2023. The protection was extended on different dates of hearing on Jena’s petition.
The Odisha High Court on Tuesday quashed the order of the court of JMFC, Salipur while delivering the judgment on the petition.
The single judge bench of Justice Gourishankar Satapathy said the JMFC’s order was unsustainable in the eye of law. The proceeding initiated against the petitioner (Pratap Jena) was without jurisdiction as his name was added as an additional accused who was not charge-sheeted even after two rounds of investigation.
The court of Sessions (trial court) which had already assumed jurisdiction over the matter also did not add the petitioner as an additional accused in the case. “In the interest of justice, the impugned order being unsustainable together with proceeding against the petitioner is liable to be quashed,” Justice Satapathy ruled.
Notably, BJP leader Kulamani Baral, the then block chairman of Mahanga, and his associate Dibyasingha Baral were brutally killed by miscreants on January 2, 2021, while they were returning home on a motorbike.
The court of Additional Sessions Judge, Salipur, on August 28 this year convicted nine of the accused and awarded life imprisonment. However, the trial court acquitted one of the accused Arabinda Khatua due to lack of evidence.
