SC acquits woman awarded life term in 23-year-old murder case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has acquitted a woman from Haryana who was awarded life-term in a 23-year-old murder case of a minor.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal acquitted the woman after finding fault with the version of the prosecution and the finding of conviction recorded by the trial court on the basis of recovery of weapon ‘gandasi’ (axe), which was upheld by the High Court.

“In our considered view, both the courts have committed an error in placing substantial reliance upon a mere recovery of the weapon, while the body of the deceased was found much earlier and that too, not at the instance of the appellant. Thus, we are constrained to extend the benefit of doubt to the appellant,” the bench said as it allowed the woman’s appeal, challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order.

The bench agreed with the submission of the counsel appearing for the accused that motive does assume some relevance in a case involving circumstantial evidence. It said there is no fingerprint of the appellant on the material object recovered and in any case, the evidence is inadequate to conclusively show that the weapon recovered was used for committing the offence.

The bench noted that the recovery of the body of the deceased was also not made at the instance of the appellant.

According to the prosecution, the murder took place on December 11, 2002 and a complaint was lodged on December 12, 2002 alleging that a four and a half-year-old son of the complainant had gone missing.

The prosecution said that upon a search being conducted, the child’s dead body was found in the village well situated nearby and it was discovered during the investigation that it was the appellant who had allegedly committed the offence as recovery of the weapon (axe) having blood stain was made on her instance.