Odisha: HC Bins Insanity Plea Against Life Sentence By Murder Convict

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has dismissed an appeal of a convict, sentence to life imprisonment for murder of his grandparents, pleading that he was insane at the time of occurrence of the crime.

“Legal insanity requires a much narrower and specific mental incapacity at the time of the crime,” the division bench of Justices SK Sahoo and Chittaranjan Dash said, while upholding the trial court verdict.

The HC observed that his conduct during and after the crime, such as the manner of the assaults and his subsequent actions, did not demonstrate a loss of reasoning or an inability to comprehend his actions. “Although his medical condition is acknowledged, it does not absolve him of criminal responsibility under the law,” the bench ruled.

It further said that the absence of any indication that the appellant was disoriented or unaware of his actions at the time of the murders further weakens the argument for legal insanity. “Since the sentence awarded is absolutely per law, there is nothing to interfere therewith. Furthermore, the medical evidence presented, including the appellant’s treatment for conversion disorder and psychosis after the incident, does not sufficiently establish that the appellant was legally insane at the time of the offence,”it added.

On April 2, 2016, convict Padmalochan Pradhan assaulted his grandparents with a wooden plank in their house at Sipokachhar village under Lephripada police limits in Sundargarh district, leading to their death. The Additional Sessions Judge, Sundargarh, sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for life on December 4, 2023. He filed a jail criminal appeal (JCRLA) in the HC on January 19, challenging the verdict on the ground that he was insane when the crime occurred.