Now Reading: Orissa High Court commutes death sentence in wife murder case
-
01
Orissa High Court commutes death sentence in wife murder case
The Orissa High Court on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a man who stabbed his wife 49 times with a kitchen knife and slit his six-year-old daughter's throat, ruling that the…
The Orissa High Court on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a man who stabbed his wife 49 times with a kitchen knife and slit his six-year-old daughter's throat, ruling that the trial court had acted on "highly emotive considerations" instead of properly weighing aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
The Division Bench of Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak and Justice Sashikanta Mishra said that while the act was "extremely barbaric", an emotional or moral approach has no place in law. The trial court had termed the case the 'rarest of rare' and awarded the death penalty, but the High Court found that legal reasoning had been replaced with a moral journey.
The convict, Sanjeet Dash, was arrested on the day of the incident in June 2022. The High Court set aside the death sentence and remanded the matter to the trial court for fresh sentencing proceedings.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The ruling reiterates the Supreme Court's 1980 Bachan Singh framework that the death penalty is only for the 'rarest of rare' cases, requiring a careful balance of aggravating and mitigating factors. The High Court found the trial court failed to consider that the convict had no prior criminal record and did not flee immediately. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, any death sentence must be confirmed by the High Court even if not appealed. The trial court must now decide a new sentence, likely life imprisonment. The case highlights how judicial discipline requires dispassionate legal reasoning even in the most horrific crimes.
Source: livelaw.in
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
