SC acquits Haryana woman in 23-year-old murder case

Supreme Court has acquitted a Haryana woman in a 23-year-old murder case, ruling that mere suspicion cannot be the basis for conviction.

The top court overturned the decisions of both the trial court in Jind and Punjab and Haryana high court, which had found her guilty. A division bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Rajesh Bindal said the prosecution failed to present conclusive evidence linking Bhanmati to the crime.

SC found flaws in the lower courts’ reasoning, particularly their reliance on the recovery of a “gandasi” (axe) as evidence. It said the axe was found much later than the victim’s body and that there were no fingerprints of the accused on it.

“Suffice it is to state that the materials presented by the prosecution are not sufficient enough to unerringly point out the guilt on the part of the appellant alone,” SC ruled.

The case dates back to December 11, 2002, when the body of a four-and-a-half-year-old boy was discovered in a village well in Kila-Jaffargarh of Jind.The boy’s father lodged an FIR next day and during the probe , Bhanmati was accused of the crime. She was convicted by the trial court, a decision later upheld by a division bench of HC comprising Justice Mahesh Grover and Justice Shekhar Dhawan.

Advocate Ram Naresh Yadav, who represented Bhanmati in SC, argued the evidence was inadequate. “Even assuming the recovery to be true, it alone would not be sufficient, as there is no evidence to show that it was used for committing the offence,” he contended. The prosecution had claimed Bhanmati committed the crime due to a family dispute, alleging the mother of the deceased had been beating her children.

However, SC found this motive unconvincing. Even at that point of time, the appellant was a middle-aged woman and her children were major while the deceased was only 4.5 years old, the bench said.