{"id":239303,"date":"2002-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-02-05T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002"},"modified":"2015-07-31T20:14:51","modified_gmt":"2015-07-31T14:44:51","slug":"gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002","title":{"rendered":"Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"docsource_main\">Supreme Court of India<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_title\">Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_author\">Author: Sethi<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_bench\">Bench: R.P. Sethi, Bisheshwar Prasad Singh<\/div>\n<pre>           CASE NO.:\nAppeal (crl.) 1  of  1995\n\n\n\nPETITIONER:\nGANANATH PATTNAIK\n\n\tVs.\n\nRESPONDENT:\nSTATE OF ORISSA\n\nDATE OF JUDGMENT:\t06\/02\/2002\n\nBENCH:\nR.P. Sethi &amp; Bisheshwar Prasad Singh\n\n\n\n\nJUDGMENT:\n<\/pre>\n<p>SETHI,J.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe appellant was charged for the commission of offences<br \/>\npunishable under Sections 304B and 498A of the Indian Penal Code for<br \/>\nallegedly subjecting his wife to cruelty and causing the dowry death.<br \/>\nAfter trial, the appellant was acquitted of the charge framed against<br \/>\nhim under Section 304B but convicted under Section 498A of the Indian<br \/>\nPenal Code and sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment.\tThe<br \/>\nappeal filed by the appellant against his conviction and sentence under<br \/>\nSection 498A IPC was dismissed vide the judgment impugned in this<br \/>\nappeal.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe facts of the case are that the appellant&#8217;s marriage with<br \/>\nRashmirekha was solemnised on 4.3.1984.\t A male child was born to the<br \/>\nparties on 9.5.1985.  Rashmirekha, the wife of the appellant died by<br \/>\nhanging herself in the bathroom regarding which the appellant is stated<br \/>\nto have lodged a written report to the Police Station Sahid Nagar and he<br \/>\ninformed the family members of the deceased.  PW1, the father of the<br \/>\ndeceased thereafter lodged an FIR alleging therein that his daughter was<br \/>\nmurdered by the appellant and his family members.  During the<br \/>\ninvestigation it transpired that the deceased had committed suicide on<br \/>\naccount of dowry demands, allegedly made by the appellant and his family<br \/>\nmembers.  It was further revealed that the deceased had been subjected<br \/>\nto ill-treatment, harassment and cruelty.  The appellant was alleged to<br \/>\nbe having illicit connection with his brother&#8217;s wife.  The accused<br \/>\ntotally denied the occurrence.\tIn his statement, recorded under Section<br \/>\n313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, he admitted that the deceased was<br \/>\nhis wife but asserted that he was having very cordial relations with<br \/>\nher.  There was no demand of dowry either by him or his brother or his<br \/>\nfamily members.\t According to him the deceased had committed suicide<br \/>\nwhich is not related to either cruelty or harassment or demand of dowry.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tUpon analysis of the prosecution evidence, the trial court<br \/>\nconcluded that, &#8220;in absence of any acceptable evidence to establish the<br \/>\nfoundational fact, the accused cannot be held guilty for the offence<br \/>\nunder Section 304B of IPC&#8221;.  The trial court, however, found the<br \/>\nappellant guilty for the offence under Section 498A IPC by finding:<br \/>\n&#8220;In this case there is evidence that the accused has given<br \/>\npurshes to the deceased in presence of PW4.  He has taken<br \/>\naway the child from her as stated by PW5.  There is also<br \/>\nevidence that the deceased was not allowed to sit on the<br \/>\nscooter by the accused and he was frequently staying absent<br \/>\nin the house.  He also failed to explain his position in<br \/>\nrelation to his sister-in-law Bijayalaxmi to the deceased<br \/>\nfor which there was an impression that he had illicit<br \/>\nrelationship with Bijayalaxmi.\tI find the evidence of the<br \/>\nwitnesses on this score is consistent.\tTaking away the<br \/>\nchild and the further ill treatment of the accused to the<br \/>\ndeceased as indicated above amounts to cruelty in as much as<br \/>\nby the said conduct of the accused, it could be much<br \/>\npossible that the deceased Rasmirekha could be driven to<br \/>\ncommit suicide.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe aforesaid findings were confirmed by the High Court vide the<br \/>\norder impugned.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tIt is conceded before us that no appeal or revision has been filed<br \/>\nagainst the judgment of the trial court by which the appellant was<br \/>\nacquitted of the charge framed against him under Section 304B of the<br \/>\nIndian Penal Code.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tWe do not agree with the argument of the learned counsel for the<br \/>\nappellant that even on proof of the aforesaid circumstances, as noticed<br \/>\nby the trial court, no case was made out against the appellant as,<br \/>\naccording to him, those facts even proved do not constitute cruelty for<br \/>\nthe purposes of attracting the provisions of Section 498A of the Indian<br \/>\nPenal Code.  Cruelty for the purposes of aforesaid section has been<br \/>\ndefined under the Explanation of the Section to mean:\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(a)\tany wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is<br \/>\nlikely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to<br \/>\ncause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health<br \/>\n(whether mental or physical) of the woman; or<\/p>\n<p>(b)\tharassment of the woman where such harassment is with<br \/>\na view to coercing here or any person related to her<br \/>\nto meet any unlawful demand for any property or<br \/>\nvaluable security or is on account of failure by her<br \/>\nor any person related to her to meet such demand.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe concept of cruelty and its effect varies from individual to<br \/>\nindividual also depending upon the social and economic status to which<br \/>\nsuch person belongs.  &#8220;Cruelty&#8221; for the purposes of constituting the<br \/>\noffence under the aforesaid section need not be physical.  Even mental<br \/>\ntorture or abnormal behaviour may amount to cruelty and harassment in a<br \/>\ngiven case.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tLearned counsel for the appellant then submitted that the findings<br \/>\nreturned by the trial court regarding the cruelty within the meaning of<br \/>\nSection 498A of the Indian Penal Code are not based on any legal<br \/>\nevidence.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tTo hold that the accused had once given pushes to the deceased<br \/>\nwhich drove her to commit suicide are based upon the alleged testimony<br \/>\nof PW4 who is the mother of the deceased.  We have minutely read the<br \/>\nstatement of the aforesaid witness and do not find any mention of her<br \/>\nhaving seen the accused pushing the deceased which, in turn, could be<br \/>\nheld to be &#8220;cruelty&#8221; driving her to commit suicide.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tAnother circumstance of cruelty is with respect to taking away of<br \/>\nthe child from the deceased.  To arrive at such a conclusion, the trial<br \/>\ncourt has referred to the statement of PW5, who is the sister of the<br \/>\ndeceased.  In her deposition recorded in the court on 4.5.1990 PW5 had<br \/>\nstated:\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Whenever I had gone to my sister, all the times she was<br \/>\ncomplaining that she is not well treated by her husband and<br \/>\nin-laws for non-fulfilment of balance dowry amount of<br \/>\nscooter and twin one.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>and added:\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On 3.6.1987 for the last time I had been to the house of<br \/>\nthe deceased i.e. to her separate residence.  Sworna,<br \/>\nSnigdha, Sima apa, Baby Apa accompanied me to her house on<br \/>\nthat day.  At that time the deceased complained before us as<br \/>\nusual and added to that she said that she is being assaulted<br \/>\nby the accused now-a-days.  She further complained before us<br \/>\nthat the accused is taking away the child from and her, and<br \/>\nthat her mother in-law has come and some conspiracy is going<br \/>\nagainst her (the deceased).  She further told that &#8220;MATE AU<br \/>\nBANCHEI DEBENAHIN&#8221;.\n<\/p>\n<p>Such a statement appears to have been taken on record with the aid of<br \/>\nSection 32 of the Indian Evidence Act at a time when the appellant was<br \/>\nbeing tried for the offence under Section 304B and such statement was<br \/>\nadmissible under Clause (1) of the said section as it related to the<br \/>\ncause of death of the deceased and the circumstances of the transaction<br \/>\nwhich resulted in her death.  Such a statement is not admissible in<br \/>\nevidence for the offence punishable under Section 498A of the Indian<br \/>\nPenal Code and has to be termed as being only a hearsay evidence.<br \/>\nSection 32 is an exception to the Hearsay Rule and deals with the<br \/>\nstatements or declarations by a person, since dead, relating to the<br \/>\ncause of his or her death or the circumstances leading to such death.<br \/>\nIf a statement which otherwise is covered by the Hearsay Rule does not<br \/>\nfall within the exceptions of Section 32 of the Evidence Act, the same<br \/>\ncannot be relied upon for finding the guilt of the accused.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tAnother finding for recording the guilt of the accused is that<br \/>\nonce the deceased was not allowed to sit on the scooter by the accused<br \/>\nand that he was frequently staying absent from his house.  Learned<br \/>\ncounsel, appearing for the respondent, fairly conceded that no witness<br \/>\nhas stated to that effect and we feel that such a finding is not based<br \/>\nupon any legal evidence.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe alleged relationship of the appellant with his sister-in-law<br \/>\nis stated to be another circumstance which led the deceased to commit<br \/>\nthe suicide.  Again there is no evidence on the record to hold that the<br \/>\ndeceased had conceived the apprehension of the appellant having illicit<br \/>\nrelations with his sister-in-law which led her to end the life.\t Learned<br \/>\ncounsel for the appellant has taken us through letters Exhibit A to F,<br \/>\nstated to have been written by the deceased as admitted by PW4.\t In one<br \/>\nof the letters the deceased is shown to have written to her mother<br \/>\nstating:\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Please informed me when the result of Tutu shall be<br \/>\ndeclared and also send the new address of Bada Bhai in the<br \/>\nletter have told you have occasion not to spread bad rumour<br \/>\nagainst the sister-in-law (wife of Kailash Patnaik) and not<br \/>\nto discuss about her with anybody; can these discussions<br \/>\nwill at all lead to a better understanding, rather it will<br \/>\ncreate more misunderstanding and aggravating the situation<br \/>\nand which is already in vogue.\tI came to know that you are<br \/>\ntelling to others that she is not providing me proper food,<br \/>\nallowing me to wear good cloth and giving ill-treatment.  I<br \/>\nwant to know who has given you these false information about<br \/>\nher and as I remember, have never discuss about this to you;<br \/>\nit is wrong to presume that she is misbehaving me; but you<br \/>\nhave been getting wrong information about her from others.<br \/>\nWhen it comes her knowledge that that you have made<br \/>\ndiscussion<\/p>\n<p>against her it creates rift and misunderstanding in our<br \/>\nfamily; further I would like to bring your notice this is to<br \/>\nreport to her by those you discuss about her.  Further why<br \/>\nare you discussing with others regarding my stay; whether it<br \/>\nis at village-home or at Bhubaneshwar.\tI have made number<br \/>\nof fervent appeals to you not to make any bad discussion<br \/>\nagainst her but you are not heeding to my advise and<br \/>\ncontinuing same against her.  By doing this, you are<br \/>\nisolating me from rest of the family members.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>(EMPHASIS SUPPLIED)<\/p>\n<p>\tIn view of the aforesaid letter it could not be held that the<br \/>\ndeceased had conceived an apprehension about the relationship of the<br \/>\nappellant with his sister-in-law.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tIt follows, therefore, that there was no legal evidence tendered<br \/>\nin the case which could be made the basis for returning a finding with<br \/>\nrespect to the alleged cruelty of the accused with the deceased.  In the<br \/>\nabsence of any legal evidence produced in the case, we are of the<br \/>\nopinion that the prosecution has failed to prove, beyond doubt, that the<br \/>\nappellant had committed the offence under Section 498A of the Indian<br \/>\nPenal Code and find that it is a fit case where he is entitled to be<br \/>\ngiven the benefit of doubt.\n<\/p>\n<p>\tIn view of our finding that there is no legal evidence to connect<br \/>\nthe accused with the commission of the offence under Section 498A of the<br \/>\nIndian Penal Code, this appeal is allowed by setting aside the impugned<br \/>\njudgment of the High Court as also of trial court. Giving him the<br \/>\nbenefit of doubt, the appellant is acquitted of the charge under Section<br \/>\n498A of the Indian Penal Code. His bail bond stands discharged.\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.J.\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t(R.P. Sethi)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.J.\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t(Bisheshwar Prasad Singh)<\/p>\n<p>February  6, 2002<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court of India Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002 Author: Sethi Bench: R.P. Sethi, Bisheshwar Prasad Singh CASE NO.: Appeal (crl.) 1 of 1995 PETITIONER: GANANATH PATTNAIK Vs. RESPONDENT: STATE OF ORISSA DATE OF JUDGMENT: 06\/02\/2002 BENCH: R.P. Sethi &amp; Bisheshwar Prasad Singh JUDGMENT: SETHI,J. The appellant was charged for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supreme-court-of-india"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2002-02-05T18:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-31T14:44:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Legal India Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@legaliadmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Legal_india\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Legal India Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Legal India Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea\"},\"headline\":\"Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002\",\"datePublished\":\"2002-02-05T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-31T14:44:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002\"},\"wordCount\":1899,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Supreme Court of India\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002\",\"name\":\"Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2002-02-05T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-31T14:44:51+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/\",\"name\":\"Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\",\"description\":\"Search and read the latest judgements, orders, and rulings from the Supreme Court of India and all High Courts. A comprehensive database for lawyers, advocates, and law students.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Free judgements of Supreme Court & High Court of India | Legal India\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\",\"alternateName\":\"Legal India\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Legal_india\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea\",\"name\":\"Legal India Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Legal India Admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/legaliadmin\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/author\/legal-india-admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","og_url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002","og_site_name":"Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/","article_published_time":"2002-02-05T18:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-31T14:44:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":512,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Legal India Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@legaliadmin","twitter_site":"@Legal_india","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Legal India Admin","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002"},"author":{"name":"Legal India Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea"},"headline":"Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002","datePublished":"2002-02-05T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-31T14:44:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002"},"wordCount":1899,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Supreme Court of India"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002","name":"Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#website"},"datePublished":"2002-02-05T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-31T14:44:51+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/gananath-pattnaik-vs-state-of-orissa-on-6-february-2002#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gananath Pattnaik vs State Of Orissa on 6 February, 2002"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/","name":"Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","description":"Search and read the latest judgements, orders, and rulings from the Supreme Court of India and all High Courts. A comprehensive database for lawyers, advocates, and law students.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Free judgements of Supreme Court & High Court of India | Legal India","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization","name":"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","alternateName":"Legal India","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Legal_india"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea","name":"Legal India Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Legal India Admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com","https:\/\/x.com\/legaliadmin"],"url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/author\/legal-india-admin"}]}},"modified_by":null,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}