CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled that the mere recovery of a weapon or bloodstains on an accused's clothes is not enough to prove guilt in a murder case. Emphasising the need for substantive evidence, the court held that such findings, without direct links to the crime, cannot establish that the accused committed the offence.
The HC passed these orders while overturning death sentences of two persons convicted in the gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman eight years ago in Haryana's Sonipat district.
According to the prosecution, on May 9, 2017, the accused abducted the victim in a car, raped her and then murdered her. The teenager's mutilated body was recovered in Rohtak on May 11, with as many as 15 injuries. Her mother alleged that accused Sumit had kidnapped her daughter.
Following her statement, the accused were arrested and Sumit confessed to the police that he and his friend, Vikas Yadav, had committed the offence, the prosecution had claimed On Dec 19, 2022, Sonipat district court convicted and awarded death sentence to both appellants, who then challenged the capital punishment before the HC.
Acquitting the accused of murder charges, the HC pointed out serious gaps and procedural lapses in collection and handling of DNA evidence sent to Forensic Science Laboratory in Karnal.
A division bench of justices Gurvinder Singh Gill and Jasjit Singh Bedi passed these orders while allowing the appeal filed by the accused. Their counsel, Jasdev Singh Mehandiratta contended that the case was based on circumstantial evidence and the chain of circumstantial evidence was not complete to warrant conviction.
"We are conscious of the heinous nature of the offence but at the same time, the prosecution must establish its case beyond reasonable doubt which it has been unable to do. In fact, from the evidence on record, there is no evidence of the deceased having been kidnapped, intoxicated, subjected to gangrape and thereafter murdered by none other than the present accused," held the bench.
The HC passed these orders while overturning death sentences of two persons convicted in the gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman eight years ago in Haryana's Sonipat district.
According to the prosecution, on May 9, 2017, the accused abducted the victim in a car, raped her and then murdered her. The teenager's mutilated body was recovered in Rohtak on May 11, with as many as 15 injuries. Her mother alleged that accused Sumit had kidnapped her daughter.
Following her statement, the accused were arrested and Sumit confessed to the police that he and his friend, Vikas Yadav, had committed the offence, the prosecution had claimed On Dec 19, 2022, Sonipat district court convicted and awarded death sentence to both appellants, who then challenged the capital punishment before the HC.
Acquitting the accused of murder charges, the HC pointed out serious gaps and procedural lapses in collection and handling of DNA evidence sent to Forensic Science Laboratory in Karnal.
A division bench of justices Gurvinder Singh Gill and Jasjit Singh Bedi passed these orders while allowing the appeal filed by the accused. Their counsel, Jasdev Singh Mehandiratta contended that the case was based on circumstantial evidence and the chain of circumstantial evidence was not complete to warrant conviction.
"We are conscious of the heinous nature of the offence but at the same time, the prosecution must establish its case beyond reasonable doubt which it has been unable to do. In fact, from the evidence on record, there is no evidence of the deceased having been kidnapped, intoxicated, subjected to gangrape and thereafter murdered by none other than the present accused," held the bench.
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