Jharkhand Virt Court’s Poto world at Ranchi. | Photo Credit: Hind
The divisional bench of the Jharkhand (HC) High Court issued a judgment while hearing an appeal against the death penalty, which was issued to two Maoists for attacking a police team in which six staff were killed, including Pakur SP Amarjit Balihar.
Judge Rongon Mukhathyay was for the liberation of convicts, while Judge Sanjay Prasad confirmed the death penalty.
HC heard a criminal appeal brought by Pravir Murmu aka ‘Pravir da’ and Santan Baseskey alias ‘Tala da’.
In this case, the court was carried out in the court of Dumka Sessions, who issued the convicts 26 September 2018 by convicts. The divisional bench HC issued a 197 -page judgment on July 17th.
The police team led by SP Balihar was attacked by Maoists on July 2, 2013.
The Maoists launched fire on two police vehicles and demanded the lives of six staff – Kumar Sharma, Manoj Hembram, Chandan Kumar Thapa, Ashok Kumar Srivastava, Santosh Kumar Mandal and Balihar.
The Constables Lebenius Marandi and Dhanraj Maraiya, who were part of the team, survived the bloodshed. Mr. Marlandi and Mr. Maraiya issued a statement as eyewitnesses and claimed that the attackers called the names Pravir and Tala.
31 witnesses, including two eyewitnesses, examined the prosecution. During his sentence, Judge Mukathyay decided that the statement of eyewitnesses was not reliable. They settled that they had become unconscious after the attack and therefore could not hear the names of the petitioners, he noted.
“Although Mr. Marandi and Mr. Maraiya witnessed the fact that the events had happened, the convicted participants of the participants did not see chaos,” he noted.
Justice Mukhathyay canceled the order of conviction and the death penalty issued in this case.
The prasad justice captivated a diverse view and decided that eyewitnesses identified the Pravir and Tala in court to be present at the place of occurrence. He also decided that the scary murder of the IPS officer, along with his team, did not cause any sympathy during their official duty.
Judge Prasad confirmed the death penalty and ordered the state government to provide relatives 2 crore 2 crore 2 crore and give a job in the rank of DSP or representative of the collector to his son or daughter.
The 50 ₹ Lakh compensation should also be provided to the family members of the five police officers who died in the incident, ordered and asked the state government to also give them class IV for compassionate reasons.
The case is expected to be initiated by the main judge of the HC for further legal procedures.
Published – 20 July 2025 20:11 is
