Madras High Court To Examine Plea Seeking Curative Petition Against Dashwanth's Acquittal For Rape-Murder Of 7-Year-Old Girl In 2017

A plea has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking direction to the State of Tamil Nadu to file a curative petition in the Supreme Court against the acquittal of Dashwanth, the sole accused in the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl in Chennai in 2017. The vacation bench of Justice GR Swaminathan and Justice V Lakshminarayanan has impleaded the Director General of Police and the concerned Inspector of Police in the matter. The court also ordered the State to respond to the plea and adjourned the case by a week.The prosecution's case was that the victim-girl went missing from her residential building at 6 PM on February 5, 2017. After a frantic search by parents and police, her burnt dead body was found on the morning of February 8, 2017. The investigation pointed towards involvement of Daswanth, a neighbour, and he was arrested on the same day. It may be noted that in October last year, the Supreme Court acquitted Dashwanth after holding that the prosecution miserably failed to prove the vital circumstances, such as the CCTV camera footage, the confessional disclosure statement, the FSL report, etc. The Supreme Court had thus set aside the 2018 judgment of the Madras High Court, which upheld his conviction and confirmed the death sentence awarded by the Trial Court.Now, this plea seeks direction to the State to file a curative petition against the acquittal. The petitioner, Venkatesh, has argued that the acquittal was obtained by committing fraud on the Supreme Court.The petitioner argued that though initially the Supreme Court had issued a limited notice regarding the question of sentence, it had later taken the criminal appeal on file, noting that the High Court had granted leave to appeal. The petitioner submitted that through an RTI response, it was revealed that the High Court had not issued any Certificate to appeal in the matter, and in the absence of such a certificate, the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter on merits. The petitioner submitted that the existence or non-existence of a certificate of appeal constitutes a foundational fact, going to the very root of jurisdiction. He thus argued that it was a clear case of jurisdictional fraud, warranting grave legal consequences like recall of acquittal, proceedings for criminal contempt, perjury, breach of trust, and professional misconduct.The petitioner has also raised a complaint to the Registrar of the Supreme Court of India, seeking to place the materials before the CJI for appropriate directions and appropriate action. Case Title: S Venkatesh v The State of Tamil Nadu Case No: WP 18454 of 2026

Madras High Court To Examine Plea Seeking Curative Petition Against Dashwanth's Acquittal For Rape-Murder Of 7-Year-Old Girl In 2017

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Madras High Court To Examine Plea Seeking Curative Petition Against Dashwanth's Acquittal For Rape-Murder Of 7-Year-Old Girl In 2017

Upasana Sajeev

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