India, Feb. 27 -- Nearly three decades after a land dispute turned violent in an Odisha village, the High Court of Orissa on Thursday ruled that sending a 60-year-old man to prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence would serve "little penological purpose" and risk casting a "needless stigma" on him and his family.

Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra, while upholding the conviction of Laxman Bastia under Sections 323 and 294 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), declined to send him to prison and instead ordered that Bastia be released on a bond of Rs.5,000 for three months under Probation of Offenders Act and Section 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

"Incarcerating him after such a long delay would serve little penological purpose...