LI Network
Published on: 28 July 2023 at 10:48 IST
In a recent case, The Chhattisgarh High Court took into consideration the prevalence of superstitious beliefs in certain regions of the country, leading to a modification of a man’s murder conviction and a reduction of his prison sentence.
The man had been convicted of killing his aunt on suspicions that she had practiced witchcraft, causing his wife to fall ill.
The Court, comprising Justices Sanjay K Agrawal and Radhakishan Agrawal, acknowledged that the man hailed from an underdeveloped community where superstitious beliefs were widespread.
The majority of the community’s members were illiterate and held strong faith in superstitions.
The Court noted that in such areas, practices like magic and witchcraft were common methods believed to achieve both positive and negative outcomes. Tragically, women were often labeled as witches, and even the local panchayat had been known to pass bizarre judgments against them.
The Court’s judgment emphasized that the community often attributed misfortunes and mishaps in their lives to superstitions, leading them to act out of revenge and suspicion against those they believed practiced witchcraft.
In this particular case, the man had attacked his aunt out of anger, suspecting that she was responsible for his wife’s serious illness due to alleged witchcraft.
Initially, a trial court had sentenced the man to life imprisonment under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for the murder.
However, upon appeal, the High Court found that there was no evidence of premeditation on the part of the accused, and the attack appeared to be driven by emotions rather than a preplanned murder.
As a result, the High Court revised the conviction and instead found the man guilty under Section 304, Part II of the IPC, which deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Consequently, the life sentence was set aside, and the man was granted release, having already spent over nine years in prison.
It’s worth noting that the man’s conviction and sentence under Section 4 of the Chhattisgarh Tonhi Pratadna Adhiniyam, the state’s law against “witch” hunting, were upheld.
Advocate Indira Tripathi represented the appellant (convict) during the proceedings, while Deputy Government Advocate Sudeep Verma represented the State government.