New Delhi, Dec 17 The Supreme Court has set aside the conviction of a man under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, in a gang rape and murder case, holding that the prosecution failed to establish that the offence was committed with knowledge of the victim’s caste.
A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and K. Vinod Chandran observed that mere proof of the victim belonging to a Scheduled Caste is insufficient to sustain a conviction under the SC/ST Act.
"Though the prosecution has proved the caste of the victim/deceased, there is nothing to indicate that the accused knew the caste of the victim or even that they were in any manner acquainted with the victim, to be aware of her caste status," the Justice Amanullah-headed bench observed.
Stressing that knowledge of the victim’s caste is an "essential ingredient" of the offences charged under the SC/ST Act, the apex court said the crime in the present case could not be said to have been committed with such knowledge.
"The offence hence cannot be said to have been committed with the knowledge of the caste status of the victim, which is an essential ingredient under both the provisions charged under the SC/ST Act," the judgment said.
The Supreme Court also expressed reservations over the Telangana High Court’s reliance on certain circumstances to sustain the conviction under the SC/ST Act. It rejected reliance on a confession allegedly made before a witness summoned to the police station, observing that "there can be no reliance placed on such a confession at the behest of the police" as it was made while the accused was in police custody.
The bench further rejected the prosecution’s attempt to treat recoveries as admissible under Section 27 of the Evidence Act when the material objects were allegedly seized from the accused at the time of arrest.
"When the material objects could have been seized from the body of the accused on a mere search by the police, the attempt to convert it as a recovery under Section 27 cannot at all be accepted," the apex court said.
While upholding the convictions for gang rape and murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the basis of a complete chain of circumstantial and forensic evidence, including DNA profiling, the apex court categorically ruled that no offence under the SC/ST Act was made out on the facts of the case.
Therefore, the conviction under Sections 3(1)(w)(i) and 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act was set aside.
On the quantum of sentence, the Justice Amanullah-headed Bench observed that the trial court had awarded the death penalty, which was later commuted by the Telangana High Court to life imprisonment, with a rider that the appellant would remain in custody "till the last breath, without remission".
In its decision, the apex court noted mitigating circumstances, including that he was about 40 years old at the time of the offence, had a family comprising his wife, four children, and aged parents, and was the sole earning member.
It further observed that the appellant had no prior criminal record and that there was no material to suggest he posed a grave danger to society or was beyond reformation.
The Supreme Court ruled that the case did not fall within the category of the "rarest of rare", warranting the death penalty and that there was no adverse report regarding the appellant’s conduct while in custody.
"We are convinced that the case is one in which imprisonment of life till the remainder of life can be modified to one extending to 25 years without remission," the apex court said, while partly allowing the appeal.
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