The Supreme Court has acquitted a man convicted of the 2007 sexual assault and murder of a minor in Ambala, ordering his immediate release after he had already served over 16 years and seven months in prison.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva set aside the concurrent rulings of the trial court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court, ruling that the prosecution failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence.
The apex court’s judgment highlighted critical flaws in the prosecution’s case:
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Circumstantial Vulnerability: The entire case relied on the weak theory of being “last seen together,” which the bench noted was not properly substantiated by witness testimonies.
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Flawed Extra-Judicial Confession: The court ruled that an alleged extra-judicial confession made to a village sarpanch—with whom neither the accused nor the victim had any connection—was a weak piece of evidence lacking independent and cogent corroboration.
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Unreliable Material Seizures: The police’s recovery of an open packet of namkeen from the crime scene was deemed suspicious and legally disconnected from the accused, as investigators claimed the connection only after the alleged confession days later.
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Procedural Doubts: Evidence revealed that the accused was detained by police two days prior to his purported voluntary confession, further undermining the credibility of the prosecution’s narrative.
Finding multiple unbridled gaps in the investigation, the top court reaffirmed its earlier interim order directing the immediate release of the appellant from custody.
