CHENNAI: A revision petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government against the Supreme Court’s order acquitting Dashwanth, who was facing death sentence in the murder of a seven-year-old girl, was dismissed by the same three-judge bench of the apex court at the admission stage on Thursday.
The three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol, and Sandeep Mehta had acquitted Dashwanth on October 8, noting that the prosecution had “miserably” failed to prove key circumstantial evidence on which the case mainly rested.
The state government had filed the petition earlier this month and it was taken up by the bench for in-chamber proceedings in line with the procedure for review petitions to examine whether it could be admitted. The bench decided to dismiss the petition.
The seven-year-old, who went missing on February 5, 2017, when her parents were away from their home at Madhanandhapuram near Chennai, was found dead in a burnt state three days later. Dashwanth was arrested, as the sole accused, for the alleged rape and murder of the child. The death sentence awarded to him by a Sessions Court in Chengalpattu in February 2018 was previously upheld by the Madras High Court.
Dashwanth was also acquitted in the murder of his mother by the trial court, citing gross lapses in the manner the investigation was handled. His mother was killed when Dashwanth was on bail before his conviction in the girl’s murder.