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The term “cruelty” is subject to rather cruel misuse by the parties, and cannot be established simpliciter without specific instances, to say the least. The tendency of roping these sections, without mentioning any specific dates, time or incident, weakens the case of the prosecutions, and casts serious suspicion on the viability of the version of a Complainant.
In this 14-year-old cold-blooded case, the deceased was hacked to death in front of his own son. During the trial, 71 out of 87 witnesses turned hostile including the relevant ones, thereby leading to the collapse of the prosecution case before Trial Court.
“When an appeal against conviction is preferred before the High Court, at the earliest stage, the High Court must examine whether there is a proper statement of the accused recorded under Section 313 of CrPC (Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023).”
“In the present case, aggrieved party that is the husband of the complainant has not made complaint of adultery before the Court; therefore, ingredients of Section 497 of the IPC have not been made out against the convict.”
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“In this case, the procedural safeguards were completely disregarded. The Special Court refrained from explicitly stating or declaring that this amounted to an abuse of power and authority. It was indeed a sad reflection on how the investigation and trial unfolded, where truth and justice, for both the victims and the accused, remained elusive. It was not without reason that such draconian provisions have since been repealed”
In criminal jurisprudence, the standard of proof required to sustain a conviction is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is significantly higher than the preponderance of probabilities applicable in civil cases.
“The motive for the commission of the offence was absent and the same was very relevant as the case was based on circumstantial evidence.”
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The Court found that circumstances in the instant case constituted more than a prima facie case to enable the prosecution to invoke Section 106 of the Evidence Act and shift the burden on the accused husband to explain what had happened on the day & date his wife died.
In the instant case a husband was charged for the murder of his wife who died in mysterious circumstances by the Trial Court; however, MP High Court acquitted the husband as it found the child witness to be tutored.
The Court found that circumstances in the case constitute more than a prima facie case to enable the prosecution to invoke Section 106 of the Evidence Act and shift the burden on the accused husband to explain what had happened on the day & date his wife died.
“When one of the three circumstances was disbelieved and discarded by the High Court, then the chain of circumstantial evidence could not have been held to be complete and proved and on that basis to hold the accused guilty of the offence.”
Failure to abide by Section 275(4) Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 alone would be sufficient to suffocate the case of the prosecution, since the same is not an inconsequential irregularity, rather it impacts the entire prosecution.
“If the age of wife is not below the age of 15 years then any sexual intercourse or sexual act by the husband with her wife cannot be termed as rape under the circumstances, as such absence of consent of wife for unnatural act loses its importance, therefore, the offence under Section 376 and 377 of the IPC against the accused was not made out.”
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“The evidence of a child witness can easily be influenced by the elders in the family. Acceptance of the child witness evidence would be dangerous in the present circumstances of the case as the evidence appears to be a result of tutoring. Not examining the father and grandfather of the victim, who were sleeping by the side of the victim girl is fatal to the prosecution case”.
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“The medical evidence on record does not support the allegation made by prosecutrix and there is no other corroboration of the version of the victim.”