Orissa High Court allows legal heirs to fight complainants’ cases

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has held that legal heirs of a complainant can continue with the proceeding in a case even after his death.The High Court gave the ruling recently in the case of Baidyanath Mishra who after his death was substituted by his eldest son Ranjit Mishra for continuance of proceedings in a lower court.

The single judge bench of Justice Sashikanta Mishra said, “The victim of a crime may die but the crime committed against him does not. Nor does the guilt of the offender gets washed away only because the victim is no more.”

“The offender would still remain liable to be prosecuted for his deeds and punished, if found guilty”, Justice Mishra further observed. As per case records the complainant Baidyanath had bought a house in the name of his wife. After she died without having made a will, the property devolved upon her children.

The children executed a registered general power of attorney in favour of the father. But after some days, the mother of his daughter-in-law (wife of his son Sanjit Mishra) came to stay in the house and allegedly got the father (Baidyanath) evicted from the house. He registered a complaint case against the action.