6 years after conviction, HC acquits lifer in 2003 case
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The court held that "suspicion, even if grave, cannot substitute proof in a criminal trial." The man was sentenced purely on the basis of circumstantial evidence.
"The needle of suspicion definitely cast against the accused person, but it does not pinpoint the appellant. The prosecution miserably failed to prove the entire chain of circumstances which would unerringly conclude that the alleged act was committed by the accused only and none else," the division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Prasenjit Biswas held.
Raison Hansda was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by the father of 13-year-old Biswajit Soren, who went missing in Dec, 2002. The Class 7 went to school on that day but did not return home after school hours.
Later, the father, through his son's classmates, came to know that after school hours, the child was kidnapped by Raison. On Jan 4, 2003, a kidnapping-and-murder complaint was filed. The trial court in 2019 convicted Raison and sentenced him to life imprisonment without remission and a fine of Rs 10,000.
Raison's advocate submitted that the conviction was based solely on circumstantial evidence and that there is no ocular evidence that Raison kidnapped and murdered the child. Out of 15 witnesses, only one said the man was seen carrying the victim on his cycle. The link between the offending weapon 'katari' and the convict could not be established.
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