Calcutta High Court Acquits Three Sentenced To Death For Murdering And Dismembering Woman

The Calcutta High Court has acquitted three persons, who were charged with murder and sentenced to death for allegedly killing a woman and cutting her body up into several pieces, before disposing of it outside Sealdah Railway station.

Jayanti Deb's body was discovered by the police in 2014, inside the parking lot of the railway station, dismembered into parts, which were kept inside a suitcase, backpack and bedroll. The police charged three people, including the victim's estranged husband, his partner and a third person who was allegedly used to dismember and dispose of the body. The trial court, gauging the evidence on record, had sentenced all three to death.

However, in appeal, the High Court found that the appellants, being the ex-husband and his partner, were not residing anywhere near the victim, and were not seen near her residence in the days before her murder. It was thus held that they could not have committed the offence.

In overturning the conviction, and acquitting the accused, Justice Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi held: "There is overwhelming evidence, that the appellant Surojit Deb left the matrimonial company of the victim much prior to the incident and that too, with his daughter and started residing elsewhere. It has also come out in evidence that the said appellant has been residing with appellant Lipika Poddar as husband and wife in a separate place. There is absolutely no evidence led at the trial that any of the appellant was seen in the vicinity within reasonable proximity of the date of incident to suspect that they might have committed the crime...It is trite law that confessions can be used to buttress other evidence but not viceversa." 

"In such circumstances, we are of the view that the prosecution had hopelessly failed to bring home the charges levelled against the appellants at the trial, beyond all reasonable doubts sufficient enough to secure their conviction. We therefore, set aside the impugned judgment of conviction and the consequential order of sentence. Death sentence awarded to the appellants, cannot, therefore, be sustained even, less to talk of its confirmation. Accordingly, the appellants are hereby acquitted of all the charges framed against them," they added.

Case: STATE OF WEST BENGAL v Vs. SURAJIT DEB AND OTHERS 

Case No: DEATH REFERENCE NO 04 OF 2019

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Cal) 172

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