Kendrapara (Odisha): Prominent judge Krushna Chandra Kar, known for his unbiased ruling in the high-profile Chhabirani gangrape-murder case of 1980, has died due to old age-related ailments at his residence in Odisha’s Kendrapara district, family sources said Wednesday.
He was 90 and is survived by three sons.
Kar had served as the district judge in Cuttack, Puri and Bolangir and as the law secretary. After retirement, he used to practice as a lawyer in Kendrapara.
He was well-known in the Odisha judiciary for sentencing eight accused in the Chhabirani gangrape-murder case to life imprisonment despite political pressure.
Both Chhabirani and her husband Nabakishore worked in an Odia daily in Biridi village in present-day Jagatsinghpur district and had written about corruption in the Public Distribution System.
They were targeted by activists of the then ruling Congress for their articles and were asked to leave Biridi.
However, as the couple, along with their infant child, was leaving the village, the accused blocked their way.
Chhabirani asked her husband to take their son to safety and then fought the accused persons alone.
However, they overpowered Chhabirani and gang-raped her before killing her on the Biluakhai river bed October 3, 1980.
Though Kar had sentenced the eight accused persons to life imprisonment, the Orissa High Court had acquitted all of them.
The Supreme Court finally convicted four of the eight accused 22 years after the incident.
Last year, an Odia movie was made on the sensational case.
PNN/Agencies