'Many Missing Links': Supreme Court Acquits Man In Murder Case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted a man, who was convicted of alleged sexual assault and murder of a minor child and served over 16 years of imprisonment, saying there were several "missing links" in the chain of the prosecution case.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva held that the trial court had erred in convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment and the Punjab and Haryana High Court also erred in upholding his conviction.

The top court noted that there was no direct evidence of the offence and the entire case against him was based on circumstantial evidence and the theory of "last seen together". It said there was no "plausible explanation" for the accused making an alleged extra-judicial confession to the village sarpanch, with whom neither he nor the victim had any connection.

"Extra-judicial confession is a weak piece of evidence and per se without any independent and cogent corroborative circumstance or evidence cannot be made the sole basis for conviction," the bench said. It noted that wherever the court, upon due appreciation of entire prosecution evidence, intends to base a conviction on an extra-judicial confession, it must ensure that the same inspires confidence and is corroborated by other evidence.

"If, however, the extra-judicial confession suffers from material discrepancies or inherent improbabilities and does not appear to be cogent as per the prosecution version, it may be difficult for the court to base a conviction on such a confession," the bench noted.

The top court delivered its verdict on an appeal filed by the man challenging an October 2022 order of the high court. The high court had dismissed his appeal against the trial court's April 2010 order that convicted and sentenced him to life term in the case registered in 2007 at Ambala.

In its judgment, the top court noted that the appellant has "already served over 16 years and 7 months of incarceration". The bench said the trial court had held the appellant guilty of the alleged offences, including that of murder and unnatural offences.

It said the prosecution's case was that the appellant was last seen with the victim, and it was alleged that he committed unnatural sexual assault and then smothered the boy to death before throwing the body in a well. The bench said it was also alleged that two days later, the appellant went to the village sarpanch and made an extra-judicial confession admitting his guilt.

The bench noted that the victim went missing on March 11, 2007, and his body was discovered the next morning. It said that according to the prosecution, slippers of the deceased along with an open packet of namkeen were seized from the spot.