After 16 Years In Jail, Man Acquitted Of Murder Charge By Orissa HC

Cuttack: A person, who was convicted in a murder case and sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court 16 years back, was acquitted by the Orissa High Court.

As per the case, the person, Anupam Yadav, had allegedly murdered his neighbour’s wife in Nuapada in 2003. The Court of Additional Sessions Judge had convicted Yadav and sentenced him to life imprisonment in January, 2004. Yadav challenged the court order in the High Court in December, 2004. The case was pending since then.

A division bench of Justice SK Mishra and Justice BP Routray examined the case records and disposed of the case on Wednesday. They stated that the prosecution has not satisfactorily established its case beyond all reasonable doubts to clearly hold that the appellant had committed the murder.

There were no eyewitnesses to the occurrence and the case was based completely on circumstantial evidence, they observed. Therefore, the bench found the appellant not guilty of the charge of murder and acquitted him thereof.