New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by two men convicted and sentenced to life term for killing a woman, Keshari Mahato, in 1993 in West Bengal's Purulia district for allegedly practicing witchcraft. The accused have served over 15 years in jail in the case.
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal said in the light of the clinching evidence and “in the absence of any specific lacuna in the testimony of the witnesses and the documentary evidence adduced, we are of the opinion that the trial court had not committed any error in convicting and sentencing the accused persons with imprisonment of life”.
The bench made it clear that the conviction and sentence have rightly been affirmed by Calcutta High Court. The bench declined to entertain a contention by the accused that they had no common intention to kill and that they simply wanted to teach the woman a lesson so that she may not indulge in her practices of witchcraft in future.
The bench said the nature of injuries which have been caused on the head of the deceased with the deadly weapons proves that they had assembled with the common intention and not merely to threaten her or to deter her from practicing witchcraft.
The witness testified that on the previous night, all the five accused persons called the deceased a witch, who was the cause of trouble to the villagers as she used to indulge in witchcraft.
The bench, in the judgment delivered on September 12, said: “Notwithstanding that two of the accused persons Bandhu Gorain and Rajen Gorain had no weapons with them or might not have assaulted the deceased but certainly they were part of the team that surrounded (gheraoed) the deceased with the common intention to kill after they had an altercation with her the previous night on the subject of practicing witchcraft”.
The bench relied on the ocular testimony of family members of the deceased and the medical evidence. It said the submission (of the accused) is devoid of any merit as admittedly an altercation had taken place between the parties on the previous night in which all the five accused persons were present and it is in furtherance of the said quarrel that all of them had appeared in the morning with reinforced vengeance.
The bench also said the very fact that the appellants and three other convicts had surrounded the deceased with deadly weapons is sufficient indication to infer that they had acted "in a pre-planned manner with a pre-determined mind".
However, the top court allowed the two convicts to seek remission as per the prevailing policy of the state government since they have served over 15 years in jail. In November 2011, the apex court dismissed the appeals filed by three other convicts Surendra Gorain, Ranjit Gorai and Rajen Gorain.
In September 1993, an FIR was lodged claiming that the five accused had assaulted the deceased on the head when she along with her daughter-in-law was returning from the pond after performing daily ablution.
