India, March 10 -- The Thane police's failure to handle scientific evidence as per rules has resulted in a life convict in a 2017 child sexual abuse and murder case being acquitted after nine years of imprisonment.

Taking note of the police's failure to abide by the Maharashtra Police Manual while handling DNA and blood samples of the accused, the Bombay High Court last month said, "...the prosecution has miserably failed to prove as to how these samples were collected, preserved, and ultimately sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL)."

The Manual lays down the procedure for packing, sealing and labelling of samples collected for forensic analysis in a crime.

In the order made available on March 6, a division bench of Justices Sarang...