Man acquitted of murder charges after 16 years in jail

CUTTACK: Sixteen years after a trial court sentenced one Anupram Yadav to life imprisonment for murder; Orissa High Court acquitted him of the charges and ordered his immediate release on Wednesday.

The Court of the Additional Sessions Judge on January 22, 2004, had convicted Yadav for beheading a woman (wife of his neighbour) and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The incident occurred under Nuapada police limits in 2013. Yadav had assailed his conviction and challenged it in the High Court on December 23, 2004. The appeal was not taken till October 13, 2014. And it had been pending till it was disposed of on Wednesday. 

After examining the case records, the division bench of Justice SK Mishra and Justice BP Routray said, “The prosecution case is not seen free from all reasonable doubts and in view of the discussions on it, we are constrained to hold that the prosecution has not satisfactorily established its case beyond all reasonable doubts to clearly hold that the appellant (Anupram Yadav) had committed the murder”.

Therefore, the bench held the appellant not guilty of the charge of murder and accordingly, acquitted him thereof. The High Court found there were no eyewitnesses to the occurrence and the case was based completely on circumstantial evidence.