Supreme Court acquits two including a death row convict in rape and murder of 7-year-old

The Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted two men including a death row convict in a rape and murder case [Akhtar Ali @ Ali Akhtar @ Shamim @ Raja Ustad v. State of Uttarakhand]

A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta held that the prosecution failed to establish a complete and unbroken chain of circumstances linking the accused to the crime, thereby entitling them to acquittal.

The Court added that If after considering the evidence, two possible views emerge, one pointing towards the guilt of the accused and another towards their innocence, then the Court must always adopt the view which is favourable to the accused.

"It must be borne in mind that the present case involves the imposition of the ultimate punishment of death. The law is well settled that in cases resting on circumstantial evidence, every link in the chain must be firmly and conclusively established, leaving no room for doubt. Where two views are possible, the one favourable to the accused must be adopted. In the instant case, the prosecution has failed to prove motive, the last seen theory stands contradicted, and the alleged scientific evidence is marred by inconsistencies and serious loopholes. uphold a conviction, much less the extreme penalty of death," Court observed.

The case arose in November 2014, when a young girl went missing during a wedding ceremony at Sheeshmahal in Uttarakhand's Kathgodam. Despite a through search, she could not be traced. In November, her dead body was discovered near the Gaula River forest. The post-mortem revealed that she had been subjected to sexual assault and blunt force trauma, which caused her death.

During the investigation, suspicion fell on the two appellants, Akhtar Ali and Prem Pal Verma and a third accused Junior Masih. Witnesses had seen them together near the venue, and mobile surveillance linked them to the crime.

Akhtar Ali was arrested in Ludhiana in November 2014, with police claiming recovery of incriminating articles and an extra-judicial confession. Prem Pal Verma and Junior Masih were arrested the next day.

In March 2016, the trial court convicted Akhtar Ali under Section 376A IPC (Rape resulting in death), Section 363 IPC (Kidnapping), Section 201 IPC (Causing disappearance of evidence) and provisions of the POCSO Act (Child sexual offences) and awarded him the death penalty.

Prem Pal Verma was convicted under Section 212 IPC (Harbouring an offender) and sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment, and also convicted under Section 66C IT Act (Identity theft) with three years rigorous imprisonment. However, he was acquitted of the major charges of rape, murder and conspiracy.

Junior Masih was acquitted altogether for lack of evidence.

On appeal, the Uttarakhand High Court, by its judgment in October 2019, upheld Akhtar Ali’s conviction and death sentence. It affirmed Prem Pal Verma’s conviction and sentence under Section 212 IPC (Harbouring offender) but acquitted him of the charge under Section 66C IT Act. The acquittal of Junior Masih was also maintained.

Aggrieved by the order, the two convicted accused approached the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court observed that the entire prosecution story rested on circumstantial evidence such as the “last seen together” theory, recoveries of certain articles, mobile surveillance and forensic reports.

However, the Court found several aspects of the investigation and prosecution deeply flawed. Recoveries and even the arrest of the accused were marked by serious doubts, inconsistencies in witness testimonies and glaring procedural lapses.

The Court also held that the DNA evidence presented was unreliable, pointing out contradictions in the custody of samples and unexplained anomalies in forensic reports.

The Court reiterated that in capital punishment cases, the standard of proof must be unimpeachable and referred to earlier rulings such as Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab and Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh.

It stressed that even the slightest doubt must weigh against awarding the death penalty.

“Given the above infirmities, the so-called links in the chain of circumstances stand broken. The prosecution has, therefore, failed to prove the guilt of the accused-appellants beyond a reasonable doubt,” the Bench observed.

Accordingly, the Court set aside the High Court’s 2019 judgment and acquitted both the accused.

Advocates Manisha Bhandari, Omkar Shrivastava, Divyadeep Chaturvedi, Shashwat Sidhant, Ayush Kumar Dubey, Ishita Dhaila, Pritish Arya and Rameshwar Prasad Goyal appeared for accused.

Advocates Manisha Bhandari, Vanshaja Shukla, Ankeeta Appanna, Siddhant Yadav and Ajay Bahuguna appeared for the respondents.

[Read Judgment]