Accused Falsely Implicated For Govt Compensation: Allahabad HC Acquits Man In 100 Yr Old Woman's Murder, Attempted Rape Case

The Allahabad High Court last week acquitted a man accused of murdering and attempting to rape a 100-year-old woman in 2017 after noting that the evidence indicated that the deceased died due to 'septic shock' and not due to any blow or injury. The Court also considered the fact that the trial court itself had expressed its opinion that no sperm or semen was found on any object, nor was there any sign of external injury on the genitals in the medical report of the victim, and that no evidence or signs of penetration by the accused were found. Hence, the High Court concluded the trial court was wrong in assuming that the accused was attempting to commit rape, therefore, the Court held, section 376/511 IPC against the accused for trying to commit rape was not proved. A bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Dr Gautam Chowdhary also observed that it was probable that the allegations of sexual offence and homicide were made against the accused only to get financial support from the government. “…this fact is credible that the complainant falsely implicated the accused to get the money from the government. Sunny Kumar had falsely implicated the accused by committing a criminal conspiracy because of the money taken from the accused. This is because the prosecution witness No. 1 has admitted in his cross-examination that "after the death of my grandmother Phullo Devi, my father and his three brothers had received Rs. 8.25 lakh from the government,” the Court observed. The Court made these observations while considering a criminal appeal filed by Ankit Punia, who was convicted by a Trial court in Meerut under Sections 302, 376/511, and 458 IPC. According to the allegations made by the informant (Shani Kumar Balmiki), his 100-year-old, ailing grandmother was resting on a cot in the verandah of their home. Shani and his wife were in a nearby room when they heard their grandmother whining, who was in a semi-conscious state. Upon rushing to the verandah, Shani and his wife allegedly found the accused (Ankit Poonia) and two fellow villagers sexually assaulting their grandmother. It was further alleged that they had to lift Ankit off the grandmother with great difficulty and that the accused appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. When they attempted to catch hold of him, he fled from the scene. After that, the informant immediately took his grandmother to the police station via an ambulance and requested that a report be filed and appropriate action be taken against the accused. Consequently, an FIR was lodged against the accused, and an investigation was undertaken. After examining the entire material on record, the testimonies of the witnesses, and the undisputed facts scrutinized and evaluated, the trial court concluded that there was a complete chain of evidence showing the accused-appellant's complicity in committing the crime. Hence, the accused was convicted as aforesaid. Challenging his conviction before the HC, his counsel argued that the informant had taken a loan of Rs 1 lakh from the accused, which he had not repaid. Therefore, in an attempt to avoid returning the loan and to secure financial assistance from the government, the informant fabricated a false case implicating the accused. It was also submitted that the informant had admitted in his testimony that he was living in Ghaziabad with his wife at the time of the incident. Therefore, he couldn't be an eyewitness of the alleged incident. The accused's counsel also called into question the credibility of all the Prosecution Witnesses and submitted that the informant did not provide any evidence of recovery of the clothes of the accused and even the forensic science laboratory found no blood, sperm, or semen on the clothes. Lastly, it was submitted that the victim was ill and passed away due to poor health and that the accused had no role to play in her death. Against this backdrop, after considering the medical report, the opinion of the doctor who conducted the post-mortem of the dead body and the evidence as presented by the prosecution witnesses found that there was no sign of rape and murder of the deceased. In its order, the Court noted that in the medical examination report of the deceased, the doctor had pointed out that "No external injury was present at the time of examination." Additionally, the doctor had expressed the opinion that "No signs of force being used; however, sexual assault cannot be ruled out." The Court further noted that the Forensic Science Laboratory reported that no sperm or semen was found on any of the objects sent by the prosecution. Further, in the post-mortem report, there were no signs of external force being used and no signs of any external injury.The Court also took into account the statement of the doctor who conducted the post-mortem examination that there were no significant ...

Accused Falsely Implicated For Govt Compensation: Allahabad HC Acquits Man In 100 Yr Old Woman's Murder, Attempted Rape Case

Sparsh Upadhyay

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