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SC exonerates man in Assam headmistress rape-murder case
A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the Assam government’s appeal and upheld the high court’s decision to acquit Moinul Haque of charges of rape and murder
The Supreme Court has acquitted a man accused in the 2017 rape and murder of a school headmistress in Assam, holding that there was no evidence to connect him to the crime and that even his arrest was “shrouded in a cloud of doubt”.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the Assam government’s appeal and upheld the Gauhati High Court’s decision to acquit Moinul Haque of charges of rape and murder.
Going a step further, the court also set aside his conviction under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly destroying evidence, even though Haque had not challenged that part of the verdict.
“…the very arrest of the accused-respondent in the present case is shrouded in a cloud of doubt,” held the bench, underlining serious infirmities in the prosecution’s case.
In its April 16 judgment, the court clarified that the absence of an appeal by the accused against his conviction for destruction of evidence did not prevent it from exercising its appellate powers to do complete justice. “The absence of an appeal by the accused-respondent does not, by itself, denude this Court of its appellate jurisdiction,” said the bench, invoking its wide powers to correct what it found to be a miscarriage of justice.
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Senior additional advocate general Chinmoy Pradip Sharma appeared for the Assam government while senior counsel PV Dinesh assisted the court as amicus curiae in representing Haque.
The case related to the rape and murder of the 58-year-old headmistress in Assam’s Hojai district. On May 31, 2017, she was raped, killed, and her body was later dumped in the Kopili river -- a crime that triggered widespread outrage across the state and was described as one of the most shocking incidents in the region at the time.
Following the investigation, a trial court in 2018 convicted Haque and sentenced him to death. A co-accused, Salim Uddin, was convicted for a lesser offence and awarded five years’ rigorous imprisonment. However, the Gauhati High Court in 2022 overturned Haque’s conviction and death sentence, citing lack of credible evidence linking him to the crime.
The Supreme Court, in its judgment, endorsed the high court’s reasoning, finding that the prosecution had failed to establish a reliable chain of circumstances necessary for conviction in a case based on circumstantial evidence. It noted glaring inconsistencies and gaps in the investigation that cast doubt on the foundational aspects of the case, including the circumstances leading to Haque’s arrest.
“We are of the firm view that the finding recorded in the impugned judgment dated 22nd December, 2022, to the extent it affirms the conviction of the accused-respondent for the offence punishable under Section 201 of the IPC and the sentence awarded thereunder, is unsustainable in facts and in law and is accordingly set aside,” it said.
In acquitting Haque of all charges, including the offence of destruction of evidence, and ordering his immediate release, the top court emphasised that criminal convictions must rest on unimpeachable evidence and not on suspicion, however strong.
