Shweta Tambade
The Orissa HC on 23rd December, revoked a death sentence, that was slammed by a POCSO court to a man accused of rape and murder of a minor girl.
Anam Dehury, a 22-year-old plumber was arrested on the charges of rape and murder of a minor girl in the same village. He was given capital punishment holding it to be a ‘rarest of rare case.’
It was noted that on 19 January, the minor girl was raped and murdered remorselessly in the Kangula village of Angul district.
After the submission of the charge sheet in the court within a month, the POCSO court heard the case in four months.
On July 26, 2019, the 22-year-old was awarded a death sentence by the POCSO court.
The accused – Dehury had filed a criminal appeal against the trial court judgment.
When the petition for confirmation was looked into along with the criminal appeal, Bijay Kumar Ragada, representing Dehury, pointed certain faults regarding some evidence used by the trial judge to prove the case of the prosecution.
The accused argued that he was not given an opportunity to give his statements on such evidence.
The Division Bench of Justice SK Mishra and Justice BP Routray witnessed the argument and revoked the trial court’s death penalty order, and remitted the case to the trial court for a rehearing.