In a development which has the potential of many being led to question the haphazard slapping of stringent sections from the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 on innocent individuals, the Allahabad High Court earlier this month overturned the conviction of a Brahmin man charged with rape of a Dalit girl.
The alleged incident of rape, which has now been found to never have occurred, was reported in the year 2000. For the past 20 years, the accused man – Vishnu has been in jail. The acquittal comes after the Allahabad HC found that the trial court had ‘materially erred’ while convicting him.
As reported by Bar and Bench on February 8, the Court expressed sadness over the ‘sorry state of affairs’ that contributed to the man’s two-decade imprisonment on false charges of rape. It also noted the state’s failure to recommend the man’s case for remission or commutation of sentence under sections 432-434 of the CrPC.
The Bench, comprising of Justices Dr Kaushal Jayendra Thaker and Gautam Chowdhary, observed, “Most unfortunate, aspect of this litigation is that the appeal was preferred through jail. The matter remained as a defective matter for a period of 16 years and, therefore, we normally do not mention defective appeal number, but we have mentioned the same. This defective conviction appeal was taken up as listing application was filed by the learned counsel appointed by Legal Services Authority on 6.12.2012 with a special mention that accused is in jail since 20 years.”
The Court’s acquittal was based on the medical examination report which found no semen or injuries on the prosecutrix, who was five months pregnant at the time she claimed to be raped. “In our finding, the medical evidence goes to show that doctor did not find any sperm. The doctor categorically opined that no signs of forcible sexual intercourse were found. This was also based on the finding that there were no internal injuries on the lady who was a grown-up lady,” the Court observed.
While acquitting the accused facing charges of rape, the Allahabad High Court found him to be a victim of mutual rivalry. During the hearing, the High Court also reiterated that the SC/ST Act cannot be filed against a person if they exchange a land dispute case.
The state’s complacency in the false incarceration of the man was also remarked upon by the court, as it said, “We are pained to mention that even after 14 years of incarceration, the State did not think of exercising its power for commutation of sentence of life imprisonment of the present accused and it appears that power of Governor provided under Article 161 of the Constitution of India are also not exercised though there are restriction to such power to commute a sentence.”
The court added, “His case should have been considered but has not been considered…The factual scenario in the present case would show that had the Government thought of taking up the case of the accused as per the jail manual, it would have been found that the case of the appellant was not so grave that it could not have been considered for remission/commutation.”