Supreme Court acquits man sentenced to death for 3-year-old's rape-murder
What's the story
The Supreme Court has acquitted a man sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in Thane, Maharashtra, in 2013.
The bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta, found that the prosecution had failed to establish an unbroken chain of evidence.
The court also found the evidence unreliable and inconsistent with major procedural lapses.
Case details
Case background: 3-year-old girl goes missing, found dead
The case dates back to September 2013, when a three-year-old girl went missing while playing outside her home.
Her body was discovered two days later in a pond.
A 25-year-old watchman was arrested based on three pieces of circumstantial evidence, including that he was last seen together with the girl, an alleged extrajudicial confession, and forensic analysis of soil samples.
Conviction details
Trial court convicts accused, death sentence upheld by HC
In 2019, the trial court convicted the watchman under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The court observed that this case fell into the "rarest of rare" category deserving capital punishment.
This conviction and death sentence were upheld by the Bombay High Court in 2021.
The appellant then appealed to the Supreme Court, challenging both the conviction and the death sentence.
Evidence scrutiny
Supreme Court finds flaws in prosecution's circumstantial chain
The Supreme Court found serious flaws in every link of the prosecution's circumstantial chain.
It noted that the last-seen-together evidence was unreliable and appeared to have been concocted by the investigating officers.
The court also pointed to the fact that key witnesses did not come forward with their statements until several days after the child went missing, although police were present during the search.
Confession and evidence
Court rejects alleged confession, questions forensic evidence
The court also rejected the alleged extrajudicial confession after observing significant improvements in the witness's testimony.
The forensic evidence linking soil on the accused's shoes to mud near where the body was found was also deemed scientifically unsound and inconclusive.
The apex court stated that the prosecution failed to rule out other possible sources for this soil, rendering it unreliable as evidence.
Release order
SC criticizes investigative lapses, orders immediate release
In its ruling, the Supreme Court strongly criticized the investigative lapses that led to this wrongful conviction.
It emphasized that the prosecution failed to meet basic standards of proof required for a criminal conviction.
The court said, "Thus, we are compelled to hold that flawed and tainted investigation has eventually led to the failure of the prosecution case."
The top court then ordered the immediate release of the man, who has spent 12 years in jail.