JUDGMENT

By the Bench: The appellant Maxi @ Maximus Soreng faced trial in the Court of learned 2nd Adhoc Additional Sessions Judge, Sundargarh in Sessions Trial Case No.255/29 of 1998-04 for commission of offences under sections 302, 315 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter ‘I.P.C.’) on the accusation that on the night of 11.02.1998 at about 9 p.m., in the village Tildega (Dumerguda), he committed murder of Kumudini Dung Dung (hereinafter ‘the deceased’) and her newly born female child and threw the dead bodies of the deceased and her child into a well before the birth of the child with the intention of preventing that child from being born alive and after knowing certain offences have been committed, he caused disappearance of the evidence by tying the dead body of the deceased with stone and threw the same inside a well situated near Dumerguda with the intention of screening himself from legal punishment.

The learned trial Court, vide impugned judgment and order dated 26.02.2005, found the appellant guilty of the offences charged and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life under section 302 of the I.P.C., rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay fine of Rs.