The case dates back to 2004, involving the brutal murder of three womenโKamala, Sonbari, and Ratanaiโin Odisha’s Nabarangpur district.
The police arrested Arjun Jani purely on mere suspicion. They allegedly used third-degree methods to extract an inadmissible confession during interrogation.
The prosecution’s case rested entirely on a single eyewitness.
The trial court failed to properly evaluate the weak evidence and forensic flaws.
At the 12-year mark of his incarceration, the Orissa High Court dismissed Jani’s jail appeal solely because of a 3,157-day procedural delay.
The Supreme Court later deemed this testimony “shaky, inconsistent, and highly improbable,” given that the crime happened at night in an area with no electricity.
The Supreme Court heavily criticized the trial court and the Orissa High Court for their handling of the matter.
The top court noted that the High Court remained a “mute spectator”.
The Supreme Court of India acquitted Arjun Jani, an Odisha man who spent 22 years in prison for a triple murder he did not commit, calling the case a “collective failure” of the country’s criminal justice system.
Because 22 years were wrongly erased from Jani’s life, the Supreme Court ordered the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) of Koraput and the local district administration to immediately assist in his rehabilitation and resettlement.
PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT ONLY COURT CAN GIVE THEM JUSTICE BUT WHAT DO A COMMON MAN DO IF HE HAS TO SPEND 22 YEARS BEHIND BARS WITHOUT ANY FAULT OF HIS JUST BECAUSE THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IS FAULTY??
