NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted S Dashwanth, who was on death row, of the charges of rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in the 2017 Chennai case that had shocked the nation on the grounds of a “lopsided” trial and the “miserable failure” of the prosecution to prove its case. The apex court’s order comes months after a Chengalpattu court acquitted him of the murder of his mother.
Dashwanth was accused of raping and murdering the child, his neighbour, and burning her body to destroy evidence. He was convicted and sentenced by a Chengalpattu trial court in 2018. The verdict was upheld by the Madras High Court later that year. Quashing the conviction and sentence, the SC ordered his immediate release, if he is not wanted in any other case.
“Keeping in view the facts of the case, we are of the opinion that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the vital circumstances to make out a case against the appellant (Dashwanth),” said a three-judge SC bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta.
Acknowledging the heinous nature of the crime, the SC said it could not ignore or bypass the fundamental principle of criminal jurisprudence that the prosecution is duty-bound to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt, more so in a case based purely on circumstantial evidence.
Stating that the prosecution had “miserably failed to do so”, the court said it had no choice but to acquit the appellant.
Original trial lopsided with accused not given proper legal defence: HC
“While it is acknowledged that the acquittal of an individual involved in a heinous crime can lead to societal distress and cause grave anguish to the victim’s family, the legal framework does not permit the courts to punish an accused person based merely on moral convictions or conjectures,” the court said.
The court had also noted that the original trial was conducted in a “lopsided” manner with Dashwanth not being provided proper legal defence or access to documents. While it said that it would have considered setting aside the verdict and sending it back for trial for fresh adjudication, the court pointed to the eight years Dashwanth had already spent in prison and said it deemed it fit to examine the case on merits.
Analysing the case, the court said the prosecution had failed to prove the key circumstances of the case which “constituted the entire edifice of the case on which conviction was based”, namely the ‘last seen together’ theory, movement of Dashwanth captured on CCTV, confession leading to incriminating discoveries and forensic reports establishing the DNA profiling comparison.
“The impugned judgment is set aside. The appeal is allowed. The conviction and sentence awarded to the appellant are hereby set aside. Appellant is acquitted. He shall be released from custody forthwith, if not wanted in any other case,” the court ruled.
