Cuttack, Aug. 1: Orissa High Court has indicted a trial court judge for sentencing a murder accused to life imprisonment without examining the prosecution story.

The high court acquitted the person, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment 13 years ago, while discarding the prosecution case as "unreliable and unconvincing".

"Instead of independently and dispassionately vetting through the entire evidence to separate the grain from the chaff and unearth the truth", the trial court convicted the accused by "ignoring unsatisfactory nature of prosecution evidence without analysing and critically appreciating facts and circumstances", the high court observed.

The incident had taken place at Baudevpur village in Ganjam district. Around 4am on January 22 of that year, neighbours of one Bijay Naik had found him standing beside his wife, Shanti, lying dead outside his house.

Sessions judge, Berhampur, J.P. Mishra had sentenced Naik to life imprisonment on June 17, 2002, following conviction on the basis of the prosecution story that he had murdered his wife Shanti.

An appeal was also filed against the sentence.

After vetting through the trial court records, the high court found it "difficult to swallow that the crime has been committed by the accused".

While allowing the appeal, the division bench of Justice Vinod Prasad and Justice S.K.

Sahoo said: "In our ultimate opinion, we find that the prosecution has miserably failed to establish its charge of murder against the appellant (accused) and anoint his guilt convincingly."

"Accused deserves conferment of benefit of doubt and we hereby confer on him the same. He is acquitted to the charge of murder and is set at liberty. He is in jail. He shall be set free forthwith, unless he is required in connection with any other crime," the division bench said in its order, a copy of the full text of which is in possession of The Telegraph.

The trial court sentence was set aside on July 21.

While observing that the entire genesis of the prosecution story is shrouded in mystery, the division bench said: "In our examination, it seems that the deceased was done to death much prior in time (as alleged by the prosecution) by unknown assailants, and the accused being her husband tried to console her. And because of Naik's innocence presence by the side of his wife, he was adjudged as culprit for reasons best known to the prosecution witnesses and arraigned as accused."

"Pedantic acceptance of prosecution story and eschewing evidences casting a doubt on its genuineness is no analysis," the high court observed, while indicting the trial court judge for negating justice by discarding the defence case "by resorting to unacceptable reasons".