English speaking person’s statement recorded in Marathi, then the court heard the death sentence in the case of rape, the case reached the SC, acquitted
The triple bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice Vikramnath and Justice Sanjay Karol observed that the High Court along with the trial court ignored all the aspects which could have been an important link in the case.
The accused in the rape case of a six-year-old girl was earlier awarded death sentence by the lower court. Then the Bombay High Court also upheld the sentence by upholding the decision of the lower court. But when the matter reached the Supreme Court, the convict was acquitted by rejecting the verdict. The Supreme Court Justices were surprised that the convict Prakash Nishad did not know Marathi language. Nevertheless, the police recorded his confessional statement in Marathi. The Investigating Officer never bothered to read out the confessional statement to the accused.
According to the Maharashtra Police, this case was registered on June 12, 2010. In this, Prakash Nishad was booked under sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 377 (misdemeanor), 201 (erasing evidence) of IPC. According to the police, Prakash first raped a six-year-old girl and then killed her with the aim of destroying the evidence and threw the body in a drain. Prakash was arrested near the spot where the incident took place with the girl. On his instance, important things related to the incident were recovered from some other place. The doctor who did the postmortem had also said in his report that excesses happened with the girl. After that the DNA sample of the accused was also examined in the forensic lab.
Convicted the accused and sentenced to death in November 2014
On November 27, 2014, the trial court convicted the accused and sentenced him to death. When the matter reached the Bombay High Court in 2015, the death sentence was confirmed from there too. But the convict was continuously saying that he is innocent. He should be released. An appeal was filed in the Supreme Court.
Police did not conduct medical test of the accused
When this case reached the triple bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice Vikramnath and Justice Sanjay Karol, the whole matter was reconsidered. The bench observed that the High Court along with the trial court had ignored all those aspects which could have been important links in the case. The triple bench said in its decision that no need was felt to conduct Prakash’s medical test under section 53A of CrPC. The police did not even give any reason for not doing so. The Supreme Court was also surprised that the investigating officer of the case was also changed several times.
The Supreme Court also expressed surprise that the samples collected from the scene of crime were sent for investigation after a long time. The police did not even do the Panchnama. At the instance of Prakash, the house from which the articles related to the crime were claimed to have been recovered belonged to a third person. He had nothing to do with her. Prakash’s blood and semen samples were also not taken. Even if taken, after a month.
Even the girl’s parents could not recognize Prakash’s house
The Supreme Court also found it mysterious how the police accepted Prakash Nishad as an accused at first glance. Police say that Prakash and the girl used to live in the same building. This thing is an important link of the case. But when the girl’s parents were asked to identify Prakash’s house, they failed. Police arrested Prakash neither from the place where the rape incident took place nor from the place where the girl’s body was found.
