Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has acquitted a 69-year-old man, who spent 19 years in jail for the murder of his foster daughter.
A division bench of Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Chittaranjan Dash on Tuesday overturned Rajendra Jain’s life sentence, citing insufficient evidence to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. “We are of the considered view that the prosecution has not been able to prove the charge against the appellant beyond all reasonable doubt and the evidence on record falls short of the standard required to fasten criminal liability,” the bench observed.
It further stated the last seen theory was not established by consistent or corroborated evidence and the motive also remained speculative as the postmortem ruled out sexual assault. A blood-stained pant allegedly recovered from the spot was not proven to belong to Rajendra, it added.
Rajendra, currently in Sambalpur Circle Jail, was accused of stabbing 19-year-old Pink to death on December 27, 2005, at their home in Belpahar, Jharsuguda district. Pink and her husband were living with Rajendra and his wife, Manju, her foster parents, who earned a living collecting scrap materials. Rajendra allegedly fled the scene and surrendered at Brajrajnagar police station on January 2, 2006, leading to his arrest and life sentence on November 28, 2006.
His appeal against the trial court judgment filed on February 24, 2007, remained unheard until the Orissa HC Legal Services Committee appointed advocate Bikash Chandra Parija to represent him on September 25, 2023, after finding that no lawyer was appearing on his behalf.
