Odisha: HC Sets Aside Life Term To Woman 17 Years After She Confessed To Killing Husband

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has overturned the life term awarded to a woman by the trial court for murder of her husband in 2007.

She had moved the HC after the court of sessions judge (Sundargarh) sentenced her to life imprisonment on July 3, 2009. Her lawyer argued that she was found guilty on preponderance of probability.

Calling it a “miscarriage of justice”, the bench of Justices Debabrata Dash and V Narasingh on October 9 observed that an in-depth analysis of the evidence on record was “unable to persuade itself to arrive at a hypothesis that only the accused is the author of the crime.” It added that the judgment was based on “surmises and conjectures”.

It also noted discrepancies in the statements of three witnesses. Further, the judges said the statement of the accused was not recorded before a magistrate under 164 CrPC, and that the confession before police had no value in the court of law.

On May 28, 2007, 25-year-old Laulina Achariya of Barupoda under Rajgangpur police limits turned up at the Sundargarh town police station, claiming that she had committed the murder of her husband Surendra Bag. The body covered with a blanket with profuse bleeding injury was recovered inside a room along with an axe.