Supreme Court Acquits Woman in 23-Year-Old Child Murder Case

New Delhi : The Supreme Court has acquitted a woman from Haryana who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the alleged murder of a four-and-a-half-year-old child in a 23-year-old case. The verdict overturned both the trial court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s earlier rulings, which had upheld her conviction.

As per agency report, a bench comprising Justices M. M. Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal found discrepancies in the prosecution's statements and ruled that the conviction based on the recovery of a gandasi (axe) was flawed. The court held that merely recovering the weapon was not sufficient evidence, especially since the victim's body had already been discovered much earlier.

The bench, while accepting the woman's appeal against the High Court's order, observed that both courts had erred by relying solely on the recovery of the weapon, while the body had already been found. Given the circumstances, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of granting the benefit of doubt to the appellant. The court also concurred with the defense lawyer’s argument that in cases based on circumstantial evidence, the motive plays a crucial role.

In its February 20 ruling, the Supreme Court emphasized that there was no evidence proving that the child was last seen with the accused. It stated that the mere recovery of the gandasi could not serve as the sole basis for convicting the woman. Furthermore, the court noted that there were no fingerprints of the accused on the weapon, nor was there sufficient evidence proving that the recovered weapon was used in the crime. Additionally, the child's body had not been discovered based on any information provided by the accused.

According to the prosecution, the alleged murder took place on December 11, 2002, and a missing complaint was filed the following day, on December 12, 2002, reporting that the complainant's four-and-a-half-year-old son had gone missing.