HC acquits 3 men sentenced to death in gangrape-murder case, flags delay in DNA examination

Ahmedabad, Jan 15 (PTI) The Gujarat High Court has acquitted three persons who had been awarded capital punishment in a 2018 gangrape-murder case, holding that the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.

The DNA profiling report could not be relied upon as there was a 14-day delay in sending samples to the forensic laboratory, said a division bench of Justices Ilesh Vora and R T Vachhani.

Gopi Devipujak, Lala Vadi and Jayanti Vadi were arrested for the alleged gangrape and murder of a woman whose body had been found in a village in Kheda district on October 29, 2018.

A sessions court in April 2022 convicted them and awarded them capital punishment after considering various pieces of evidence and witness statements including DNA reports.

In the high court, defence lawyers argued that the prosecution failed to prove the "chain of custody" requirement for DNA samples, and the carrier of the samples was not examined to prove the integrity of the seal.

The high court noted that the Supreme Court has held that DNA evidence is in the nature of "opinion evidence", and its value depends on the quality control and quality assurance procedure in the laboratory.

"...admittedly, after delay of 14 days, the samples were forwarded to the FSL, Ahmedabad and the delay is unexplained, and during the said period under what condition samples were preserved, that is also not on record," the court noted.

The HC also cited a Supreme Court judgment where it stated that prosecution must establish the sanctity and chain of custody of DNA samples right from the time of preparation, collection till the time they reached the FSL.

"Over the past decades, many cases have come to their logical conclusion with the aid of DNA evidence in many regions across the world. It is also equally true that many persons wrongly convicted have finally have had justice served, with them being declared innocence because of advancement in this technology," the court noted.

But despite this progress, it was unfortunate that there were cases where evidence has to be rejected because of carelessness in the handling by doctors or other concerned persons, the court remarked.

While it was conscious of the seriousness of the offence, "there is a long distance between accused may have committed the offence and must have committed the offence, which must be traversed by the prosecution by adducing reliance and cogent evidence," the bench said.

The prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt as a complete chain of incriminating circumstances pointing to the guilt of the accused was not established, the HC said. PTI KA KRK