Kochi: A special Pocso court in Idukki district of Kerala on Thursday acquitted a man accused of raping and murdering a five-year-old girl in June 2021.
The verdict of the special fast-track court in Kattappana acquitting the 21-year-old man in the case has dealt a blow to the prosecution and the police as the incident had triggered outrage back then.
According to the prosecution, the accused had subjected the victim to sexual assault several times. On June 30, 2021, the accused criminally trespassed into the victim’s home when her family members were not present and sexually assaulted her in the pooja-cum-bedroom. When the child became unconscious, fearing that she would tell her parents, the accused took a shawl from an almirah and hanged her from a cross-beam in the room, the prosecution argued.
Special Judge V Manju noted that since there are no eyewitnesses in the case, the prosecution entirely relies on circumstantial evidence to prove the accused’s guilt.
“Thus in case resting on circumstantial evidence, the prosecution must establish a chain of unbroken events unerringly pointing to the guilty of the accused and none other. In order to sustain conviction, circumstantial evidence must be complete and incapable of explanation of any other hypothesis than the guilt of the accused. Such evidence should not only be consistent with the guilt of the accused but inconsistent with his innocence,” the court order said.
“Taking all the circumstances into account discussed above, I came to the finding that in this case, the prosecution failed to establish all the circumstances which are consistent with the guilt of the accused and inconsistent with his innocence,” the court said.
{{/usCountry}}“Taking all the circumstances into account discussed above, I came to the finding that in this case, the prosecution failed to establish all the circumstances which are consistent with the guilt of the accused and inconsistent with his innocence,” the court said.
{{/usCountry}}The court also listed defects in the police investigation such as the investigating officer reaching the crime spot only the next day after the incident, the officer not inspecting the almirah from which the ligature material was taken or fingerprints from the spot, collection of material evidence in unsealed condition and absence of chance prints from the fingerprint expert.
“I find that adopting a lethargic attitude throughout the investigation and unscientific way of collecting of evidence without showing the shrewdness and intelligence reasonably expected from an investigating officer, seriously affected the prompt and timely collection of evidence in the case,” the court underlined.
Minutes after the judge pronounced the ruling, the family members of the victim broke into tears on the court premises and demanded justice. “We were blessed with a baby girl after waiting for 14 years. Where is the justice that she deserves?” asked her mother as she wept.
A police officer said that the scope of an appeal against the court verdict will be examined and further action will be taken.