Justice after jail: HC clears teacher 14 years after conviction

Patna: A man declared innocent by the Patna high court this month had already spent seven years behind bars — completing his full sentence long before justice arrived. In a striking reminder of judicial delays, the court acquitted a schoolteacher in a 14-year-old rape case after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond “reasonable doubt”.On Feb 10, a single bench of Justice Shailendra Singh while allowing criminal appeal of Shyam Jee Mishra alias Manidra Mishra, a schoolteacher, set aside a judgment of trial court in Buxar which had held Mishra guilty of raping a minor girl, who was his student.Justice Singh found that prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond “reasonable doubts” and gave benefit of the same to appellant Mishra. This verdict was uploaded on HC websites on Feb 18.According to the FIR lodged on Feb 1, 2012, Mishra had allegedly kidnapped the girl on Jan 22, 2012. Police investigated the case and filed a chargesheet that led to initiation of a criminal trial against the accused. After conclusion of trial, the local court of Buxar held Mishra guilty on Dec 9, 2013 of committing the rape and sent him to rigorous imprisonment of seven years. Being held guilty, Mishra served his entire term of sentence.Challenging the decisions of the trial court, Mishra filed a criminal appeal in Patna high court on Jan 6, 2014 while he was in jail. A month after, the appeal was admitted by a single bench of HC for final hearing on Feb 7. However, due to unavailability of a lawyer who could have presented the merit of Mishra’s appeal, the same remained unheard for 12 years.On Jan 20 this year, Justice Singh appointed an advocate Sumeet Singh as an amicus curiae (friend of court) who promptly exposed the loopholes in prosecution’s case, including an unexplained delay of nine days in lodging of FIR.