JITU MURMU Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Presence of societal tribulations is undoubtedly not uncommon in any country. However, tribulations or evil practices in the society particularly based on superstitious beliefs make man's cruelty to man harsher. One among such nasty social evils is witch craft that has been in practice across culture, religion and territory and bares the terrible face of the so-called civilized society of human being. The Petitioners herein have moved the instant application under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in connection with S.T. Case No.154 of 2018 pending before the Court of the learned Additional Sessions Judge-II, Mayurbhanj, Baripada, corresponding to G.R. Case No.344 of 2018 further corresponding to Kuliana P.S. Case No-35, dated 26.04.2018 for the commission of alleged offences under Sections 302,307,323,324,325,326,342,34 of the Indian Penal Code,1860 and Sections 5 and 6 of the Odisha Prevention of Witch-Hunting Act, 2013.

(2.) A snap shot of the facts as alleged and leading to filing of the present application is that the informant, has lodged a FIR on 26.4.2018 before the IIC, Kuliana Police Station. It was stated inter alia that the deceased Sambari Murmu had been to the house of one Rame Murmu who happened to be her maternal uncle and is the father of the petitioners herein. The facts as encapsulated in the FIR, the deceased who was not feeling well for few days which led her to go to the house of her maternal uncle, who was a self-styled supernatural medicine expert, for some sort of indigenous treatment as practiced by Rame Murmu. But surprisingly, on 25.4.2018 as a part of treatment practice, Sambari Murmu (deceased) was assaulted by means of Trisul/Trident, rope and iron rod as a result of which she suffered multiple fatal injuries leading to her death. The petitioners who are also the perpetrators of such treatment had caused the death of the deceased on the pretext of conducting some sort of an exorcism which led to inflicting of some gruesome injuries. Allegedly, the Petitioners herein believed that some evil spirit had overpowered the body of the deceased resulting in her abnormal behavior. In order to pull out the "evil spirit", the main accused Rame Murmu along with his wife Mahi Murmu, elder- son Sukul Murmu (Petitioner No.1), his wife Sita Murmu and younger son Narasingha Murmu (Petitioner No.2) tied the hands and legs of the deceased and started assaulting her by means of Trident, crowbar and iron rod. The said misadventure was done to pull out the purported remnants of negative energy from the body of the deceased but it resulted in the death of the Sambari Murmu. After receiving the FIR from the informant, the IIC registered the same as Kuliana P.S.Case No. 35/2018 for commission of offence punishable u/s. 302, 307, 323, 324, 325, 326, 342, 34 of IPC and Sections 5 and 6 of the Odisha Prevention of Witch-Hunting Act, 2013 and commenced investigation.

(3.) The Ld. Counsel Mr. Anjan Kumar Biswal appearing for the Petitioners submits that petitioners who are relatives of the informant have been falsely implicated due to some rivalry issue. He contended that the trial has already commenced and 16 witnesses have already been examined but none of them have implicated the Petitioners. He further submitted that the Petitioners have no prior criminal antecedents. There is no chance of apprehension that the petitioners will tamper with the evidences since the investigation in the case has already been completed, charge sheet has been filed and the trial has commenced. The Petitioners herein have been in custody since 26.04.2018 and the co-accused have been granted bail by this court. He further contended that the Petitioners herein ought to be released on the ground of parity.