Rape accused acquitted if lawyer not found, Supreme Court bench gives verdict, know the whole matter

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday acquitted a rape and murder convict. The court said that the lawyer did not present his/her views properly during the trial and the cross-examination of the witnesses was also not of proper standard. A bench of Justices AS Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Augustine George Masih further said that Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) was not complied with. Under this, the accused is investigated. This is so that he/she can personally place before the court any circumstances appearing in the evidence against him/her. The bench said that we are surprised to see that both the trial court and the High Court have ignored the compliance with the requirements of Section 313 of CrPC.

Supreme Court bench expressed objection to the trial court’s decision
The division bench said it was shocking that the trial court awarded death sentence in a case which should have ended with acquittal. The Supreme Court bench said that what is shocking is that the trial court awarded death sentence in a case which should have resulted in acquittal. Imposing death penalty in such a case shocks the conscience of this Court. Therefore, while acquitting the accused, the Court issued several directions as to how the Public Prosecutor can ensure that the rights of the accused are not violated during the trial.

What is the whole matter, know
A case of rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl was registered against the accused Ashok. According to the prosecution, he/she and his/her 7-year-old first cousin had gone to a pasture to graze their goats. Since the victim was thirsty, she went near a tube well cabin. The accused was working as a tube well operator. The victim asked the accused for water to drink. The prosecution alleges that the accused took her inside the cabin and raped and murdered her. According to the prosecution case, the cousin saw the accused forcibly taking the victim inside the cabin and raping her. She came back and told her father about the incident. The accused was later arrested and tried in the court. The trial court in December 2012 convicted the accused under sections 376 (rape), 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and offenses under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Ordained. The court had sentenced him/her to death. The Allahabad High Court upheld the verdict, but commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment. After this the convict approached the Supreme Court in appeal.

Supreme Court decision
The Supreme Court noted that the accused was not represented by any lawyer at the stage of framing of charges. The court said that the examination-in-chief of the prosecution witness 1 (PW 1), who was not representing the accused, was also allowed to be recorded without any legal aid. The bench said that if the examination of a prosecution witness is recorded in the absence of the counsel in chief for the accused, a very valuable right to object to the questions asked in the examination-in-chief is taken away. The accused is also deprived of the right to object to further questions.

It also said that the cross-examination conducted by the legal aid lawyers representing the accused was not up to par. The court said that it would not be appropriate to comment on the capabilities of the two legal aid lawyers appointed in this case as they are not parties before us. But suffice it to say that the cross-examination of the witnesses was not of the expected standard. The court said that some important questions which would normally have been asked in cross-examination were not asked. Specifically, the court noted that there was a flagrant violation of Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), as the materials and evidence relied upon by the prosecution were not placed before the accused while he/she was being cross-examined. Therefore, it quashed the conviction of the accused and acquitted him/her.