In a move to dispose of long pending cases, Jharkhand High Court today granted bail to several accused persons languishing in jails for several years after having been convicted by the lower courts.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Virender Singh and Justice A V Singh granted bail to seven persons, serving jail terms for killing one Punia Devi for allegedly practising witchcraft at Alankhera village of Gumla under Palkot police station on June 30, 2006. The villagers had blamed her for the death of a girl Sabal Devi, who died under suspicious circumstances.
The villagers after holding a meeting forced her to eat human excreta to the woman who was also badly thrashed following which she died on the spot. An FIR was lodged against 14 persons and several unknown persons who were later convicted by the lower court.
“Today bail was granted to seven convicted persons who were lodged in jail since 2014 in connection with a witchcraft related murder case in the year 2006. As many as 14 people were found guilty by the lower court out of which seven people were already granted bail in April this year while other seven persons were granted bail by the court on Wednesday,” said petitioner’s advocate AK Chaturvedi. All the accused persons belonged to Palkot in Gumla, added the advocate.
Notably, the division bench comprising the Chief Justice and Justice A V Singh will be disposing of criminal cases pending for over 10 years during the summer vacation.
Similarly, bail was granted to Sawna Oraon of Atkara village in Gumla under Sisai Police Station, accused of killing Jagannath Oraon who had gone to attend call of nature on February 19, 2011 but did not return afterwards. His body was later found in a nearby orchid. An FIR was lodged in the case against unknown persons.
“later, after institution of the case, three eye witnesses disclosed that Sawna Oraon along with his two companions Nandu Oraon and Paghra Oraon committed the murder. All the three persons were later arrested and were found guilty by the lower court but were granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court,” said Advocate AK Chaturvedi. “It was also a case related to superstition where the person was killed after he was suspected to have some extraordinary powers due to which the cattle in the village were dying very frequently,” added the advocate.
In another murder related case, Balram Singh was also granted bail on Wednesday. Singh was accused of killing Ram Janam Singh and was lodged in jail for the last three and a half years after conviction.“Bail was granted by the Division Bench on the ground that death occurred due to infection and not due to injury as the deceased was admitted to the hospital one day after the incident,” said applicant’s Advocate Devesh Krishna. He had been sentenced 10 years of imprisonment by the lower court, he added.
The court, however, did not grant relief to one Rajesh Chaudhary from Dhanbad, serving life-term imprisonment after having convicted by the lower court in 2006, for killing his wife’s paramour way back in 2002.