NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has upheld the acquittal of a man sentenced to death by a sessions court for allegedly murdering a minor girl after she resisted his attempt to rape her.
A three-judge bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam, concurred with the views of the Allahabad High Court which had earlier acquitted Raja alias Jalil on the ground that the extra-judicial confession of the accused was not voluntary and the circumstantial evidence was not sufficient to confirm the conviction.
"It is fairly well settled that when a case rests on circumstantial evidence, a complete chain of circumstances which rule out every other possibility except guilt of the accused has to be established," the apex court observed while dismissing an appeal filed by the UP Government.
It was the case of the prosecution that Raja on October 17, 1994 took the 11-year-old girl away from her mother Sushila Devi on the pretext of seeking the girl's assistance in the paddy fields.
The prosecution alleged that Raja tried to sexually assault the girl who resisted him but was killed by the accused.
Raja is reported to have confessed his guilt after being beaten up by villagers. He was handed over to the police who claimed to have recovered the deceased's body from the field on the basis of the accused's disclosure.
Based on the extra-judicial confession made by the accused, the Sessions Court sentenced him to death. But the High Court on reference acquitted the accused on the ground that the circumstantial evidence did not form a complete chain to fasten the guilt on the accused, upon which the State Government appealed in the apex court.
Upholding the High Court's finding, the apex court observed "The High Court has rightly noted that the alleged extra-judicial confession was extracted from the accused by assaulting him severely.
"The injuries clearly indicate that the accused was beaten very badly after he was allegedly apprehended. Therefore, the findings of the High Court that the so-called extra judicial confession was not voluntary or natural cannot be faulted," the apex court observed while upholding the acquittal.
