Reprieve after 9 years: HC acquits man of rape-murder

Kolkata: After being sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl, an East Midnapore man was acquitted by the Calcutta High Court on Feb 5, after the prosecution failed to establish that he had committed the crime.The court observed that had the man committed the crime, he would not have told the parents that he had last seen the girl at the market. "He would have made every endeavour to disassociate himself from the victim," the bench of Justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Ajay Kumar Gupta said.
The judges further noted: "The accused last saw the victim. He, however, was not last seen with the victim."The parents deposed that the convict had told them that, a day before the child went missing, she had been seen loitering in the local market and crying. "There are no eyewitnesses whatsoever to the appellant being involved in the crime against the victim," the bench noted.The bench also pointed to a glaring lapse: the accused's semen sample was never matched with the biological samples recovered from the victim's body. No forensic science laboratory report was exhibited during the trial either.Sk Jahangir was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in Aug 2017 by a court in East Midnapore for the rape and murder. He was also directed to pay Rs 50,000 in compensation to the victim's family.The case dates back to March 3, 2008, when a seven-year-old girl who had gone to play near the accused's house went missing. Her body was later recovered from the Kansa River in the north of Golghat village.Initially, the family did not suspect foul play. It was during the last rites, while the child's body was being washed, that a relative noticed bruises and blood on her private parts. The body was buried but was later exhumed after a complaint was lodged with the police and sent to Tamluk for inquest and post-mortem examination.The inquest officer found multiple cut injuries across the victim's body. Blood was seen in her nose and mouth, and there was an injury to her private parts. The post-mortem report confirmed rape and stated the cause of death as asphyxia, shock and haemorrhage. Injuries were noted on seven parts of the body.The victim's father filed a complaint naming two persons — Sk Akkas and Sk Jahangir — as responsible for the rape and murder. Sk Akkas was granted bail by the trial court and later absconded.The defence argued that the police had recovered the child's clothing from the house of the absconding accused."No medical evidence other than the PM doctor's report was produced during the trial. There is no link whatsoever established between the accused persons and the offence in any form. The post-mortem report indicates that the victim was raped. The same, however, by itself does not link the appellant with the victim," the judge observed.