Convicted elderly woman asked to sweep temple for two months

A lower court here convicted an elderly woman on the charge of causing hurt endangering the life of an elderly man but released her on probation of good conduct with certain conditions, including that she will clean the premises of a famous temple in the city every Sunday for two months.
The Cuttack Sadar SDJM Bibaswat Gautam earlier this week held one Janaki Biswal (60) of Nehrupally here guilty under section 323 and 337 of IPC for causing grievous injuries to her neighbour Babaji Das by pelting stones at him in February, 2012.
Because of some previous animosity, Janaki, who works as a sweeper with the local civic body, had attacked Babaji rendering him unconscious.

But instead of committing the offender to jail for an offence which invites imprisonment for at least one year and fine, the magistrate on reformatory approach thought it to be a fit case to release the convict on probation under the Probation of Offenders Act.
"Let the convict be released under the supervision of DPO (Cuttack district probationary officer) for a period of one year on execution of a personal bond of Rs 10,000", the magistrate said in his order with conditions that Janaki will maintain peace and not indulge in any unlawful activities.
"As the convict is a sweeper by profession, she shall clean the premises of Chandi Mandir on each Sunday for a period of two months", the order said adding that in the event of deviation, the convict shall appear before the court to suffer her sentence.