Orissa HC commutes death penalty to nine for triple murder over witchcraft suspicion

On 15th January, the death sentence handed down to nine individuals by the Sessions Judge in Rayagada for the 2016 murder of three family members on suspicion of witchcraft was commuted by the Orissa High Court. “It cannot be said that there is no possibility of the appellants being reformed and rehabilitated foreclosing the alternative option of a lesser sentence and making imposition of death sentence imperative or in other words, life imprisonment would be completely inadequate and would not meet the ends of justice,” the court conveyed while considering the report of the authority and weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Chhattisgarh High Court commuted sentences in two separate cases “These are the incriminating circumstances, but there is no evidence on record that the appellant cannot be reformed or rehabilitated as at the time of the offense he was aged about 29 years and he is a member of the Other Backward Class, thereby he belongs to the backward community and his chances of being reformed or rehabilitated cannot be ruled out,” the Chhattisgarh High Court pronounced in December of last year, while overturning the capital punishment awarded to Dipak Baghel for committing rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl in the year 2021. “Thus, after appreciating the entire ocular and medical evidence on record, we do not find any illegality in appreciation of oral, medical, and circumstantial evidence or arriving at a conclusion as to the guilt of the appellant by the trial Court warranting interference by this court and we accordingly hereby confirm the conviction of the appellant recorded under Section 302 of the IPC.” However, it also addressed the arguments regarding the capital punishment stating that the trial court was wrong in the imposition of the death penalty on the appellant on the same day. Furthermore, we direct that the life sentence must extend to imprisonment for the remainder of the appellant’s natural life.” Supreme Court upheld Bombay High Court’s order commuting death penalty to life Due to an excessive delay in their execution, the Bombay High Court decided to commute the death sentence of two convicts in the 2007 Wipro BPO employee gang rape and murder to “life term for a period of 35 years.” The decision was then maintained by the Supreme Court of India in December 2024.