12 Years After Being Sentenced To Life For Killing Spouse, Orissa HC Acquits Man

Cuttack: Twelve years after a man was sentenced to life on charges of killing his wife, the Orissa High Court here acquitted the 53-year-old noting that the prosecution had failed to establish the charge against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

On July 1, 2010, a complaint was lodged at  Jaipatna police station alleging that Dhaneswar Rout of Mahipani village had killed his wife Padmalata. Later that day, Dhaneswar turned up at the police station with a tangia (axe) in hand and blood stains on his clothes. A fast track court in Bhawanipatna convicted him of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment on June 29, 2011.

Dhaneswar had been lodged in Bhawanipatna Jail since his arrest.

A year later on July 20, 2012, he filed a criminal appeal in the HC, which found that  the trial court had convicted the accused even as the prosecution had not been able to prove its case. “With the obtained evidence, the accused having gone to the police station with a tangia (axe), which was then seized and his wearing apparel were also seen to have been stained with blood, also appear to be doubtful and according to us it cannot be said to have been proved beyond reasonable doubt.”

“We are therefore, of the considered view that the prosecution has failed to establish the charge against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. In the result the appeal stands allowed. The judgement of the conviction and order of sentence dated June 29, 2011, passed by the additional sessions judge (fast track court), Bhawanipatna, are hereby set aside,” it added.

The HC then directed to set Dhaneswar Rout free if his detention was not required in connection with any other case.

Notably, the complainant, who is Dhaneswar’s brother, saw Padmalata lying in a pool of blood and Dhaneswar standing with the axe in his hand while passing in front of their house on July 1, 2010. A farmer, he was staying with his wife in the house of his mother-in-law Indra Rout. It was said that the couple had a fight and he brought a tangia (axe) and dealt blows on his wife, leading to her death at the spot.