HC orders fresh hearing on sentencing of 2 convicts
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Cuttack: The Orissa high court, in a significant development in a death penalty reference case, has directed a fresh hearing on the question of sentence for two convicts, citing lack of a fair and meaningful opportunity to present mitigating circumstances during the trial.
A division bench of the high court, comprising Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra, issued the direction on Wednesday in the case concerning confirmation of the death sentence awarded to the two convicts by additional sessions judge court, Athmallik, on Sept 27, 2024.
The case was referred to the high court by the state govt for confirmation of the capital punishment given to Prakash Behera and Nandakishor Sethy.
Both convicts also filed criminal appeals challenging the trial court's verdict. They appeared virtually from circle jail, Angul, along with their legal aid counsel, Dillip Kumar Das. The state was represented by additional government advocate (AGA) Debasis Tripathy.
The trial court had convicted Behera and Sethy under Sections 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
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The case was deemed to fall under the 'rarest of rare' category as it involved the brutal killing of three members of a family — a husband, wife and their three-year-old son — whose throats were slit.
The incident took place on Oct 9, 2017, in Gambharimaliha village under Kishore Nagar police station limits in Angul district.
However, the high court noted that there was no meaningful opportunity provided to the appellants to present mitigating evidence before sentencing.
"There appears to be no opportunity afforded to the appellants to submit any material in support of the mitigating circumstances," the court observed, taking note that the orders of conviction and sentence were issued on the same day.
The bench directed the senior superintendent of circle jail, Angul, to collect detailed reports on the appellants' past life, psychological conditions and post-conviction conduct.
The reports must be prepared with assistance from the probation officer, psychologists, jail doctors and other relevant officials.
The matter is scheduled for further hearing on June 23, 2025, at 2pm. The court clarified that it has not commented on the merits of the appeal and that the current exercise is limited solely to the sentencing aspect. The AGA has been directed to ensure virtual appearance of the appellants on that day.
The appellants have been asked to submit affidavits detailing mitigating circumstances by June 30, 2025. All supporting reports and materials must also reach the high court by the same date.
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