Cuttack, Sept 27: A murder convict was acquitted by the Orissa High Court on Wednesday after 14 years in jail.
Kharjim Bandhu (43) and his father Kharjim Lachhna Rao (71) of Sunki village under Pottangi tehsil of Koraput district were acuitted. Rao was sentenced to imprisonment for life in the murder case, but granted bail over 8 years back.
Bandhu and Rao were convicted of committing murder of the former’s wife Kharjim Kumari in 2008 and put on trial.
According to the case, Kharjim Kumari had gone missing from the village on June 2 that year. The duo was arrested a month later after human bones and clothing fragments of a 25-year-old woman were found near a jungle, and put on trial. They were sentenced to imprisonment for life by the Fast Track Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Jeypore. Both father and son filed a jail criminal appeal in the HC on December 24, 2010.
While quashing the trial court’s judgment and order of conviction Justice SK Sahoo and Justice Chittaranjan Dash observed that the evidence put forth in the case did not bring about a nexus between the criminal and the crime.
The bones found in the jungle were not proved to be Kumari’s, coupled with weak circumstantial evidence and inconsistencies in the forensic findings, raised significant doubts about the prosecution’s story, the court observed.
“The prosecution has not established the appellants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and these shortcomings provide a strong basis for arguing that the Appellants should be acquitted due to the failure to meet the burden of proof required by law,” the bench ruled.
