Jharkhand High Court delivers split verdict on death sentence given to 2 Maoists in murder of six policemen

The Hindu

3 days ago

A division bench of the Jharkhand High Court (HC) delivered a split verdict while hearing appeals against the death sentence given to two Maoists for the 2013 attack on a police team, in which six personnel, including Pakur SP Amarjit Balihar, were killed.
Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay was in favour of acquitting the convicts, while Justice Sanjay Prasad upheld the death sentence.
The HC was hearing a criminal appeal filed by Pravir Murmu alias 'Pravir Da' and Santan Baskey alias 'Tala Da'.
The trial in the case was conducted at the Dumka sessions court, which gave a death sentence to the convicts on September 26, 2018. Thereafter, the convicts filed their respective appeals before the HC. The division bench of the HC delivered a 197-page judgement on July 17.
The police team, led by SP Balihar, was attacked by Maoists on July 2, 2013.
The Maoists opened fire on two police vehicles, claiming the lives of six personnel -- Rajiv Kumar Sharma, Manoj Hembram, Chandan Kumar Thapa, Ashok Kumar Srivastava, Santosh Kumar Mandal and Balihar.
Constables Lebenius Marandi and Dhanraj Maraiya, who were part of the team, had survived the carnage. Mr. Marandi and Mr. Maraiya gave statements as eyewitnesses and claimed that they heard the names of Pravir and Tala being called out by the attackers.
The prosecution examined 31 witnesses, including the two eyewitnesses. While delivering his judgment, Justice Mukhopadhyay held that the statements of the eyewitnesses were not reliable. They had deposed that they had become unconscious after the attack and therefore could not have heard the names of the appellants, he noted.
'Though both Mr. Marandi and Mr. Maraiya were witnesses to the occurrence, they had not seen the convicts participating in the mayhem,' he observed.
Justice Mukhopadhyay set aside the order of conviction and the death sentence given in the case.
Justice Prasad took a divergent view and held that the eyewitnesses had identified Pravir and Tala in court to be present at the place of occurrence. He further held that the gruesome murder of an IPS officer along with his team during the discharge of their official duty does not evoke any sympathy.
Affirming the death sentence, Justice Prasad directed the state government to provide a compensation of ₹2 crore to the kin of the deceased SP and give a job in the rank of DSP or deputy collector to his son or daughter.
Also, a compensation of ₹50 lakh each should be provided to the family members of the five policemen who died in the incident, he directed, asking the state government to also give class IV jobs to them on compassionate grounds.
The case is expected to be taken up by the HC's chief justice for further legal procedures.