Jharkhand High Court commutes death penalty, cites ‘judgment of acquittal’ in division bench’s split decision

The court was acting on the plea against the death penalty of two men who were convicted of the murder of the superintendent of police, Late Amarjit Balihar, who was heading anti-extremist operations in the state. In this ambush, five police personnel died on spot and one died while being shifted for treatment to the hospital. The two other police personnel sustained grievous injury, but survived.

Findings

The court noted while there cannot be a “scintilla of doubt” that the ambush was a carefully pre-meditated assault on the Superintendent of Police, who had been spearheading anti-extremist operations. It was cold-bloodedly planned and ruthlessly executed, resulting in the martyrdom of six police personnel, including the SP, while they were in the line of duty.

The court said that “the factum of the crime stands beyond dispute, leaving no room at all, for any reasonable doubt concerning its commission.”

The court emphasised that the attack was not merely upon the police force, but upon the sovereign authority of the state, exercised through its law enforcement agencies. The rule of law, a fundamental tenet of our constitutional framework, is realised and sustained through the institutions and instrumentalities of the state.

Justice Choudhary highlighted, while authoring the order, that the very foundation of the nation would be in danger if armed groups are permitted to “challenge and overwhelm the executive arm of the state”.

The high court, therefore, commuted the capital punishment to life imprisonment for both the accused persons apart from a Rs 10,000 fine. The accused will have to serve simple imprisonment for three years in default of payment of fine.

Background

The two accused along with five others were charged for the ambush and killing of the police personnel in July 2013.

The trial court heard the matter and found the two accused, Sukhlal and Sanatan Baski, guilty of the attack and awarded death penalty.

Aggrieved by this decision, the accused approached the high court where a division bench delivered a split verdict in July 2025.

While Justice Rangon Mukhopadhyay opined that the charge against the appellants had not been proved beyond the shadow of all reasonable and probable doubt, therefore appellants were entitled to acquittal, Justice Sanjay Prasad held that appellants guilty of the offences charged and confirmed the death sentence.

Subsequently, the matter was referred to the Chief Justice who ordered the present proceeding and subsequently the court negated the death penalty of the accused citing the difference of opinion on the point of conviction by one of the judges of high court.