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HC Overturns Rape-Murder Conviction Due to Weak Evidence
10 Sep
Summary
- Bombay High Court acquitted a man in a 2016 rape and murder case.
- The court cited weak, disconnected, and equivocal circumstances as insufficient proof.
- The prosecution failed to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, ordering his release.
In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court has set aside the conviction and death sentence of a man accused in the December 2016 rape and murder of a physiotherapist in a Mumbai suburb. The court emphasized that the prosecution had failed to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande stated that the evidence presented consisted of "weak, disconnected and/or unequivocal circumstances." They noted that suspicion, no matter how strong, could not replace definitive proof. Consequently, the court dismissed the state's plea for death sentence confirmation and ordered the accused's release.
The original trial had found the man guilty of rape, murder, and unnatural sexual offenses, deeming the crime to be in the "rarest of rare category." However, the High Court found significant loopholes, questioning the CCTV footage, the timing of evidence seizure, and the DNA analysis. The court highlighted inconsistencies in the prosecution's case, ultimately concluding that the cumulative effect of the evidence did not rule out a reasonable hypothesis of innocence, entitling the accused to liberty.
