Cuttack, Aug. 31: Orissa High Court has commuted to life imprisonment a death sentence awarded to 52-year-old Kabiraj Pradhan for killing his wife at Derara in Talcher colliery area four years ago.

It has done so because the case does not fall in the category of “rarest of rare cases”.

Additional sessions judge K.C. Mohapatra had found Kabiraj guilty of committing murder and sentenced him to death on March 26, 2011, and submitted the judgment to the high court for confirmation.

Disposing of the reference made by the additional sessions judge, the high court ordered: “The conviction of the accused under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code is upheld but the punishment of death imposed on him is set aside and instead alternative punishment of imprisonment for life is imposed.”

Kabiraj had inflicted multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen of his wife Aasali causing severe bleeding which resulted in her death on August 18, 2007.

His daughter Kuni, who was present in the house, had tried to protect her mother, but he had pushed her away. She had fallen down and sustained injuries on her right leg.

Relying on the evidence of the sole eyewitness (Kuni) coupled with medical evidence and other incriminating materials available on record, the trial court judge had convicted and sentenced Kabiraj to death.

Kabiraj’s counsel Bijaya Kumar Ragada said: “The high court had pronounced the verdict on August 10, but the full text of the judgment was only available today.”

The two-judge bench of Justice Pradip Mohanty and Justice B.K. Patel observed: “It is trite that in order to impose death penalty, the crime must fall within the category of rarest of rare cases. If life imprisonment is the rule, the death sentence must be imposed only when life imprisonment appears to be altogether inadequate punishment having regard to the relevant circumstances of the crime.”

“This court finds that in this instance the murder was brutal but not diabolic. The motive behind the crime has not been established by the prosecution. Even though the assault is brutal and was on a helpless lady, taking into account the mitigating circumstances available on record, it cannot be said that it is a rarest of rare case where the extreme penalty of death should be awarded,” the two-judge bench of the high court ruled.