Supreme Court acquits 2 death row convicts; says high time to have investigation code for police

The Supreme Court on Thursday acquitted two persons on death row and a third person who was facing life imprisonment in a 10-year-old case involving the kidnapping and murder of a 15-year-old boy. [Rajesh and anr vs State of Madhya Pradesh].A bench of Justices BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and PV Sanjay Kumar strongly lamented about the disappointing police probe and prosecution in the case and called for the introduction of a police code of investigation to guide scientific investigations."We may note with deep and profound concern the disappointing standards of police investigation that seem to be the invariable norm ... It is high time, perhaps, that a consistent and dependable code of investigation is devised with a mandatory and detailed procedure for the police to implement and abide by during the course of their investigation so that the guilty do not walk free on technicalities, as they do in most cases in our country. We need say no more," the bench observed.The bench was hearing appeals challenging a 2017 Madhya Pradesh High Court judgment.The High Court had upheld the convictions and sentence of the three accused in the murder case. The trial court had convicted them in 2016..On appeal, the top court noted that case was entirely hinged on circumstantial evidence as there was no eyewitness to the kidnapping and murder.The Supreme Court added that there were 'cavernous gaps' and 'discrepancies galore' in the evidence and purported sequence of events. The judges further commented that often, police are found to be overzealous in picking up those who they think are guilty and building a case against them, with scant regard for the due procedure. The top court added that this only leads to gaping holes and weak links in the chain of evidence, as was the case in the present investigation. .In this case, the bench also noted that the police had erred in relying on a confession made while in police custody. Further, the panchnama and seizures memos were not prepared in accordance with the law, the judges found.The failure of the police to examine of the owners of the SIM cards used to allegedly make ransom calls was also termed by the Supreme Court as a shocking lapse indicating a slipshod probe..All of this led the Court to castigate the police for tailoring their investigation, showing complete indifference to procedure, and leaving important leads unchecked while glossing over others. "(It) leaves us with no option but to extend the benefit of doubt to the appellants. The higher principle of ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’ and more so, in a case built on circumstantial evidence, would have to prevail and be given priority," the Court held..The Supreme Court was also perplexed on how the courts below went on to impose capital punishment ignoring the weak links and loopholes in the prosecution case."No valid and acceptable reasons were put forth as to why this case qualified as the ‘rarest of rare cases’, warranting such drastic punishment. Per contra, we find that the yawning infirmities and gaps in the chain of circumstantial evidence in this case warrant acquittal of the appellants by giving them the benefit of doubt. The degree of proof required to hold them guilty beyond reasonable doubt, on the strength of circumstantial evidence, is clearly not established," the Supreme Court said..The appeals were, thus, allowed and the three accused were acquitted. .Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra with advocates Supriya Juneja, Bhavesh Seth, Pankaj Singhal, Aditya Singla, Shakti Singh, Ayush Agarwal, Udbhav Sinha, and Trisha Chandran represented the accused, Raja Yadav, Rajesh Yadav and Om Prakash Yadav.Project 39A - a criminal justice programme at National Law University Delhi that represents death row prisoners - briefed Luthra.Advocate Pashupathi Nath Razdan appeared for the Madhya Pradesh government..[Read Judgment]