Orissa High Court
Pradip Bhakta vs State Of Odisha on 11 December, 2023
Bench: S.K. Sahoo, Chittaranjan Dash
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
JCRLA No.25 of 2008
Pradip Bhakta .... Appellant
Smt. Suman Modi, Advocate
-versus-
State of Odisha .... Respondent
Mr. Priyabrata Tripathy
Addl. Standing Counsel
CORAM:
JUSTICE S.K. SAHOO
JUSTICE CHITTARANJAN DASH
ORDER
Order No. 11.12.2023
09. This matter is taken up through Hybrid
arrangement (video conferencing/physical mode).
Pursuant to the previous order dated
31.10.2023, learned counsel for the State has
produced the written instruction dated 10.12.2023
received from the Inspector in-charge of Sadar P.S.,
Baripada, Mayurbhanj wherein it is stated as follows:
"With reference to the letter and subject cited
above, I have the Honour to submit the
compliance report to your kind instruction
that the appellant Pradip Bhakta was
remanded to judicial custody at Baripada
Circle Jail on 07.04.2006 in connection with
G.R. case No-335/2006 converted to ST case
No- 2008/2006 arising out of Baripada Sadar
// 2 //
PS case No-30/2006 U/s 302/323 IPC. During
the period of UTP at Circle jail, he was
convicted R.I. for life imprisonment on
29.02.2008 in a judgment of Hon'ble
Sessions Judge, Mayurbhanj, Baripada in the
said case, but on 27.07.2022 the convict was
prematurely released from Circle Jail,
Baripada on the judicious decision of the
Govt. of Odisha, Law Deptt. vide No- 8458 dt
26.07.2022 communicated vide Directorate of
Prisons, Bhubaneswar Memo No- 11664
0/PR-4/2022) dt 27.07.2022 after being
pleased on the appeal made by the appellant
during tenure of his imprisonment. Since
after release from judicial custody, the
appellant has not yet been visited to his
native place in village Besarpani under this PS
jurisdiction as none of his family members
was residing there. Furthermore it was found
that the house of appellant has already been
turned into debris and only the land is lying
vacant. Being enquired in the locality, it was
confidentially learnt that prior to the
premature release of appellant, his wife had
quitted village Besarpani elsewhere along
with her children and their present
whereabouts is not known to anybody which
// 3 //
was further corroborated and confirmed by
local Sarpanch Malli Mohanta and Ward
Member Daitari Bhakta. However it was
mostly presumed that the appellant might be
present at his matrimonial abode under Udala
PS jurisdiction along with his family
members. In this connection further effective
step was taken by visiting to his matrimonial
abode and contacting with his in-laws, but
the effort became futile as they also failed to
reveal the present whereabouts of either the
appellant or his wife to reach their current
place of residing. In the above view, it can be
well surmised that the appellant is either
residing alone or jointly with his spouse and
children at outside to avoid reach of anybody
which may be or not known to his close
relatives. However the longstanding absence
and avoidance of the appellant indicates that
he does not have any desire to pursue the
case at all. Hence, the consent/view of the
appellant as asked for compliance could not
be obtained for submission as desired by
Hon'ble High Court."
The said instruction is taken on record.
From the instruction furnished by the learned
counsel for the State, it seems that the appellant has
// 4 //
been prematurely released as per the order passed by
the Govt. of Odisha, Law Department and the
whereabouts of the appellant is not known and there
is no instruction before us that whether the appellant
is ready and willing to proceed with the jail criminal
appeal or not.
In view of such state of affair, the jail criminal
appeal stands disposed of.
( S.K. Sahoo)
Judge
(Chittaranjan Dash)
Judge
sipun
Designation: Junior Stenographer
Reason: Authentication
Location: HIGH COURT OF ORISSA, CUTTACK
Date: 14-Dec-2023 11:05:19
