Split HC verdict on Pakur SP ambush case

A two-judge Jharkhand high court bench has delivered a split verdict on the conviction of two Maoists in the 2013 ambush that killed Pakur SP Amarjit Balihar and five others.

- Raj Kumar

While Justice Sanjay Prasad upheld the 2018 trial court ruling that awarded the death sentence to the accused, citing no error in the prosecution's case, Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay acquitted them, pointing to serious doubts and inconsistencies in witness testimonies and evidence, an advocate familiar with the matter said on Monday. The case will now be referred to another division bench.

“The matter came before the division bench of Justices Rongon Mukhopadhyay and Sanjay Prasad after the state government approached the high court for confirmation of the death sentence, while the Maoists—Sanatan Baski and Sukhlal Murmu—challenged their conviction and sentence in the same year the Dumka trial court pronounced it,” the advocate said. The conviction order was passed on September 9, 2018, and the death sentence was handed down on September 26, 2018, by additional sessions judge Md Taufiqul Hassan.

The advocate said the 196-page judgment was delivered on Thursday and uploaded to the high court website on Saturday.