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Orissa high court seeks details
of Chenchu case

The Orissa high court sought a report from the session judge, Khurda, about the Chenchu case in which a 13-year-old tribal boy was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines.

Chenchu, sentenced to 14 years detention by a juvenile court last October, was sent to the juvenile home in Angul district from the Berhampur special home for juveniles. The sentence had raised several eyebrows among legal experts and among child rights activists.

Acting on a public interest litigation filed by social activist Kasturi Mahapatra, a division bench of the Orissa high court has asked whether any appeal has been filed by Sudersan Hansda alias Chenchu against the order of his conviction and sentence.

Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death on the night of January 22, 1999 at Manoharpur village of Keonjhar district in Orissa.

The petitioner, in his PIL, had appealed to the chief justice to intervene in Chenchu's case so that he was restored his right to be treated as a child.

The petitioner maintained that the sentence of Chenchu was not in consonance with the convention on the rights of children.

The petitioner claims to have the consent of Chenchu's parents to fight for his rights in the courts.

Chenchu had filed an appeal against the verdict in October in the court of the district and session judge, Bhubaneswar, pleading his innocence in the incident. Chenchu has also appealed to the President for amnesty.

Legal experts have termed Chenchu's sentence as unprecedented in Indian legal history while child rights activists have described it as a 'travesty of justice'.

Chenchu was found guilty of involvement in the murder of Staines and his two minor sons Philip and Timothy. He had been held guilty under sections 22(1) and 22(2) of the Juvenile Justice Act read with sections 120(B), 147, 148, 149, 435 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

The offences of which he has been found guilty are unlawful assembly, murder, causing murder by setting fire to the two vehicles in which the victims were asleep.

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