Court hopes Chenchu will turn into a saint

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR, OCT. 4. A Bhubaneswar juvenile court, which ordered 14-year detention of a child accused in the Graham Staines murder case early this week, has expressed hope that the boy would be transformed into a saint in future.

A two-judge Bench, which convicted the 14-year-old tribal boy, Chenchu Hansda, on charges of murder, said that it had the faith that the Superintendent of the juvenile home will nurture and display the gradual transformation of the boy.

``If the Hindu mythology can be of any help in this case, this is the land where a dreaded dacoit Ratnakara was transformed into saint Valmiki and as such, this Court has faith and belief that the Superintendent, Juvenile Home, Angul, will nurture and display the world outside the gradual transformation of Chenchu Hansda to a Valmiki,'' the judges observed in their 40-page order.

Borrowing lines from a Supreme Court order in Sheela Barse's case, the Court further hoped that the society, of which the convict was a product, will eagerly wait to accept, when after detention period, the delinquent comes out with ``full development of his personality, when his childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment''.

The Bench, however, chose not to send Chenchu Hansda to a special home on the ground that the offences were of a serious nature and ``it will not be in the interest of other juveniles of that special home since it will have contaminating effect on other juveniles''.

Chenchu was one of the 18 accused who had been chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation for killing the Australian missionary and his two minor sons, Philip and Timothy, at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in January 1999. Three of the 18 accused are still absconding.

While Chenchu was tried by the juvenile court for being a minor, a Special Judge is conducting the trial of other accused in the case, including the prime accused, Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh.

PTI adds:

Chenchu will appeal against the verdict, his counsel has said. The sentence of 14-years' detention to a 13-year-old juvenile was unprecedented in Indian legal history, he said. Chenchu has been held guilty under section 22(1) and 22(2) of the Juvenile Justice Act read with section 120 (B), 147, 148, 149, 435, and 302 of IPC.0

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