Now Reading: Supreme Court upholds life term of man who killed woman for witchcraft
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Supreme Court upholds life term of man who killed woman for witchcraft
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the life sentence of Balku Oram for murdering a woman in Odisha in 1998 after accusing her of practising witchcraft. A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar…
The Story in Brief
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the life sentence of Balku Oram for murdering a woman in Odisha in 1998 after accusing her of practising witchcraft. A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and NV Anjaria said the direct evidence was compelling and that the trial court and Orissa High Court had correctly convicted him.
The court rejected arguments that the sole eyewitness, the victim’s daughter, was unreliable, and refused to downgrade the offence from murder to culpable homicide. It criticised the continued prevalence of witch-hunting, calling it a malady where prejudice and superstition override constitutional morality.
The Indian Opinion
The court’s strong condemnation of witch-hunting is welcome, but one judgment cannot uproot a prejudice that thrives in the shadows of rural impunity. The real test is whether Odisha and other states will now enforce laws against witch-hunting with rigour. Will the police register FIRs before a murder, not after? That number, not judicial rhetoric, will show if reason has truly replaced superstition.
Sources (2): barandbench.com, hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
