Kolkata, Sept. 15 -- The Calcutta High Court has acquitted two men convicted of raping and murdering a girl in Alipurduar, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a chain of evidence linking them to the crime.
The court said "suspicion cannot take the place of legal proof" and set aside their conviction and sentences.
The victim went missing from Rydak Tea Garden on September 30, 2012. Her body was found in a betel-nut garden on October 2. A post-mortem established rape and murder, with death caused by forceful penetration.
The prosecution relied mainly on three witnesses. One claimed to have seen the appellants near the garden, another said he saw them forcibly dragging the victim, and a third said they sheltered the men before they left for Delhi.
The bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha and Justice Anuj Singh found their evidence unreliable. The first witness contradicted himself over whether he had left his room. The second allegedly saw the victim being dragged away but neither intervened nor informed her family. The third witness's account about the appellants selling a mobile phone and revealing their destination was found to appear tutored.
The court held that the "last seen" circumstance could not by itself establish guilt, particularly given the gap between the alleged sighting and estimated time of death.
It also flagged investigative lapses. Crucial samples, including vaginal swabs, nail scrapings, hair and blood, were never sent for forensic examination. The alleged confessions were not recorded before a Magistrate, while key witnesses were not examined under Section 164 CrPC.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.