SC models aside conviction, dying penalty awarded to man in rape-cum-murder case 

By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has quashed the conviction and dying penalty awarded to an individual for the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old lady in 2010, saying “multitudinous lapses” inside the investigation have compromised the search to punish the doer of such a barbaric act in absolute peril.

Referring to the fashion throughout which a probe into the case was undertaken by the Maharashtra Police, the apex courtroom said fairly a number of lapses blot your complete map and there have been “yawning gaps” inside the chain of circumstances rendering it faraway from being established.

A bench headed by Justice B R Gavai delivered its verdict on the appeals filed by the accused in direction of the October 2015 judgement of the Bombay High Court which had affirmed the conviction and dying sentence awarded to him by a trial courtroom.

While allowing the appeals, the very best courtroom quashed the choice convicting the accused and directed that he be set at liberty forthwith, if not required in one other case.

The bench, moreover comprising justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol, said it was true that the unfortunate incident did occur and on the tender age of six, a life for which lots was in retailer ultimately was terrifyingly destroyed and extinguished.

It said the dad and mother of the sufferer have suffered an unfathomable loss, a wound for which there is not a therapy.

“Despite such painful realities being part of this case, we cannot hold within law, the prosecution to have undergone all necessary lengths and efforts to take the steps necessary for driving home the guilt of the appellant and that of none else in the crime,” the bench said in its judgement delivered on Friday.

“There are, in fact, yawning gaps in the chain of circumstances rendering it far from being established-pointing to the guilt of the appellant,” it said.

The apex courtroom well-known that an FIR was lodged in June 2010 at Thane in Maharashtra and the trial courtroom, in November 2014, had convicted the accused and imposed capital punishment for the offence of murder.

It said the courts beneath had concurrently found the prosecution to have established the case previous low cost doubt that the accused, after sexually assaulting the minor lady, had put her to dying and thrown the physique in a drain to destroy the proof.

The apex courtroom well-known that it was a case of circumstantial proof, as none has witnessed the crime for which the appellant stands charged.

“The prosecution case is primarily based, not on ocular evidence but on the confessional statement of the appellant leading to the recovery of incriminating articles and through scientific analysis establishing his guilt. The sheet anchor of the case is the DNA analysis report,” it said.

The bench said though the DNA proof by way of a report was present, “its reliability is not infallible, especially not so in light of the fact that the uncompromised nature of such evidence cannot be established; and other that cogent evidence as can be seen from our discussion above, is absent almost in its entirety.”

The bench said the reason why the investigation officers have been modified time and again have been “surprising and unexplained”.

It well-known there was unexplained delay in sending the samples collected for analysis, the alleged disclosure assertion of the appellant was not at all study over and outlined to him in his vernacular language and what was the premise of him being a suspect on the primary event, stays a thriller.

“Such multitudinous lapses have compromised the quest to punish the doer of such a barbaric act in absolute peril,” the bench said.

It said the crime devoted in direction of the minor teen was unquestionably evil and incorrect by itself, with out the prohibition of laws making it so.

“This fact, coupled with the duty upon the investigating authorities not only to protect the citizens of the country but also ensure fair and proper investigations into crimes affecting the society, as in the present case, casts upon such authorities, in the considered view of this court, not only legal but also a moral duty to take all possible steps within the letter of the law to bring the doers of such acts to the book,” the bench said.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has quashed the conviction and dying penalty awarded to an individual for the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old lady in 2010, saying “multitudinous lapses” inside the investigation have compromised the search to punish the doer of such a barbaric act in absolute peril.

Referring to the fashion throughout which a probe into the case was undertaken by the Maharashtra Police, the apex courtroom said fairly a number of lapses blot your complete map and there have been “yawning gaps” inside the chain of circumstances rendering it faraway from being established.

A bench headed by Justice B R Gavai delivered its verdict on the appeals filed by the accused in direction of the October 2015 judgement of the Bombay High Court which had affirmed the conviction and dying sentence awarded to him by a trial courtroom.googletag.cmd.push(carry out() googletag.present(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

While allowing the appeals, the very best courtroom quashed the choice convicting the accused and directed that he be set at liberty forthwith, if not required in one other case.

The bench, moreover comprising justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol, said it was true that the unfortunate incident did occur and on the tender age of six, a life for which lots was in retailer ultimately was terrifyingly destroyed and extinguished.

It said the dad and mother of the sufferer have suffered an unfathomable loss, a wound for which there is not a therapy.

“Despite such painful realities being part of this case, we cannot hold within law, the prosecution to have undergone all necessary lengths and efforts to take the steps necessary for driving home the guilt of the appellant and that of none else in the crime,” the bench said in its judgement delivered on Friday.

“There are, in fact, yawning gaps in the chain of circumstances rendering it far from being established-pointing to the guilt of the appellant,” it said.

The apex courtroom well-known that an FIR was lodged in June 2010 at Thane in Maharashtra and the trial courtroom, in November 2014, had convicted the accused and imposed capital punishment for the offence of murder.

It said the courts beneath had concurrently found the prosecution to have established the case previous low cost doubt that the accused, after sexually assaulting the minor lady, had put her to dying and thrown the physique in a drain to destroy the proof.

The apex courtroom well-known that it was a case of circumstantial proof, as none has witnessed the crime for which the appellant stands charged.

“The prosecution case is primarily based, not on ocular evidence but on the confessional statement of the appellant leading to the recovery of incriminating articles and through scientific analysis establishing his guilt. The sheet anchor of the case is the DNA analysis report,” it said.

The bench said though the DNA proof by way of a report was present, “its reliability is not infallible, especially not so in light of the fact that the uncompromised nature of such evidence cannot be established; and other that cogent evidence as can be seen from our discussion above, is absent almost in its entirety.”

The bench said the reason why the investigation officers have been modified time and again have been “surprising and unexplained”.

It well-known there was unexplained delay in sending the samples collected for analysis, the alleged disclosure assertion of the appellant was not at all study over and outlined to him in his vernacular language and what was the premise of him being a suspect on the primary event, stays a thriller.

“Such multitudinous lapses have compromised the quest to punish the doer of such a barbaric act in absolute peril,” the bench said.

It said the crime devoted in direction of the minor teen was unquestionably evil and incorrect by itself, with out the prohibition of laws making it so.

“This fact, coupled with the duty upon the investigating authorities not only to protect the citizens of the country but also ensure fair and proper investigations into crimes affecting the society, as in the present case, casts upon such authorities, in the considered view of this court, not only legal but also a moral duty to take all possible steps within the letter of the law to bring the doers of such acts to the book,” the bench said.