‘Cops planted proof’: SC acquits death row convict after a decade | India News

NEW DELHI: A botched investigation by police, which additionally “planted” proof, and lopsided proceedings by the trial courtroom despatched a man to the gallows in a rape-cum homicide case of a little one in Uttarakhand. After a decade in jail beneath the shadow of death, Supreme Court not solely quashed his sentence but additionally acquitted him.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta, after analyzing all proof, together with the forensic report, didn’t discover even a single piece of credible proof in opposition to the person and pulled up the state police in addition to the trial courtroom for the best way during which the investigation and prosecution have been carried out. The courtroom quashed his conviction by each the trial courtroom in addition to excessive courtroom.
The incident occurred in Udham Singh Nagar district in June 2016 when the lady disappeared throughout a jagran and her physique was present in a close by subject. The man was arrested a day later. The bench mentioned when the FIR was lodged, not one of the witnesses claimed to have seen the lady with the person, who was in command of sound and lightweight on the jagran, however they subsequently alleged so when police made him an accused.
There is not any semblance of passable proof: Court
It additionally mentioned the physician who examined the lady was not cross-examined and he additionally didn’t disclose the identify of the policeman to whom the samples have been handed over nor did he state that the samples have been sealed and have been handed over in a safe situation. The courtroom mentioned police tried to stay the case on the person by getting his confessional assertion.
“After being arrested, the appellant confessed to the crime and stated that the clothes which he was wearing at the time of commission of the offence were placed by him in a bag which he was carrying in his hand. He had also stated that he was intending to throw the clothes but before he could do so, he was caught by police. We feel that the theory put forward in the testimony of the said witness… is totally unbelievable. It is clear as daylight that these recoveries have been planted because it is hard, if not impossible, to believe that the appellant, who was a free bird and had ample opportunity to destroy the clothes, would keep the same with him for almost two days after the incident so as to facilitate police to recover the same at a later point of time,” the bench mentioned.
It mentioned there was not even a “semblance of evidence” on report to fulfill the courtroom that the samples collected from the lady’s physique and people collected from the person, which have been later forwarded to the forensic science lab, have been correctly sealed or remained in a secure situation. “There is every possibility of the samples being tampered/manipulated by the police officers to achieve a favourable result from FSL, thereby, inculpating the appellant in the crime,” it added.
The bench additionally discovered fault with trial proceedings because the accused was not correctly represented. “Thus, it is established beyond doubt that the trial was not conducted in a fair manner,” it mentioned.
“The lopsided manner in which trial was conducted is fortified from the evidence of sub-inspector Prahlad Singh who was allowed to narrate the entire confession of the appellant in his examination-in-chief. This procedure adopted by the trial court in permitting a police officer to verbatim narrate the confession made by an accused during investigation is grossly illegal,” tt mentioned.