NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has acquitted four men accused of throwing acid on a woman in Sangam Vihar in 2019, citing “systemic investigative lapses”, including an unexplained 18-month delay in registering the FIR.
Additional Sessions Judge Hargurvarinder Singh Jaggi granted relief to Preet Pal, Ramesh, Suresh Chand and Bablu Kumar, saying the prosecution “miserably failed” to prove the charges against them. The judge said, "Suspicion, however strong, cannot take the place of proof."
"This court holds that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the charges against any of the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt. The benefit of pervasive doubt, systemic investigative lapses, unexplained delay, and unrefuted defence evidence must inevitably extend to the accused persons,” the judge said.
According to the prosecution, the complainant had alleged that the accused arrived on two motorcycles and threw a chemical at her near a temple in Sangam Vihar on July 9, 2019, causing chemical burns on her back and waist.
The court noted that the FIR was registered only on January 7, 2021, nearly 18 months after the alleged incident. The investigating officer also admitted that he was unaware of the reason for the delay, the judge noted.
The court said the prosecution case largely rested on the complainant's testimony. During cross-examination, she said she had turned around after feeling a burning sensation on her back.
“This meant she had not actually seen who threw the liquid at her,” the judge said, adding that her identification of one of the accused as the person holding the bottle was a “post-facto assumption”.
The court also questioned the failure of the investigating agency to examine the five to seven people whom the woman said had gathered at the spot after the incident.
“No CCTV footage, call detail records or mobile location data were collected during the investigation… The investigating agency failed to recover any acid bottle, container, or motorcycles allegedly used during the crime. More critically, the complainant's burnt clothes, i.e., the primary physical case property were destroyed in a fire,” the judge said.
The judge also noted defence evidence showing that Ramesh and Suresh Chand were working as MNREGA labourers in Mathura on the date of the alleged incident and said, “The prosecution failed to effectively rebut the official records supporting their alibi.”