SC acquits death row convict, says hastily awarding capital punishment undermines rule of law

New Delhi, Sep 11 (PTI) The Supreme Court has acquitted a death row prisoner convicted for raping a girl whose body was found in 2014 and said "hasty" application of capital punishment undermines the rule of law.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta underpinned the prosecution's failure to prove the "complete and unbroken" chain of circumstances for holding the accused guilty.

The bench also acquitted the co-accused sentenced to a seven-year jail term in the case registered by the Kathgodam police station in Uttarakhand in November 2014.

"Trial courts, as well as high courts, are required to exercise the highest degree of circumspection before awarding the death penalty," the bench said in its September 10 verdict.

The bench said the "irreversible nature" of capital punishment requires it to be imposed only in "rarest of rare" cases.

The bench said even the slightest doubt or infirmity in the prosecution's case must weigh against the imposition of such sentence.

"Any hasty or mechanical application of the death penalty, without ensuring the highest standards of proof and procedural fairness, not only undermines the rule of law but risks the gravest miscarriage of justice by extinguishing a human life irretrievably," the bench said.

The verdict came on the appeals of the two convicts challenging an October 2019 order of the Uttarakhand High Court.

While the high court confirmed the death penalty of one of the accused, it upheld the seven-year jail term awarded to the other accused.

The apex court noted the prosecution's case was based purely on circumstantial evidence in the form of motive; theory of last seen together and scientific or forensic evidence since there were no eye witnesses.

Referring to the prosecution's evidence, the bench said the police utterly failed to attribute any clear or convincing motive to the accused who was awarded death penalty.

"It must be borne in mind that the present case involves the imposition of the ultimate punishment of death. The law is well settled that in cases resting on circumstantial evidence, every link in the chain must be firmly and conclusively established, leaving no room for doubt," it said.

The bench said when there were two views possible, the one favouring the accused ought to be adopted.

"The prosecution has failed to prove motive, the last seen theory stands contradicted, and the alleged scientific evidence is marred by inconsistencies and serious loopholes," it said.

The bench said in such circumstances, it would be wholly unsafe to uphold a conviction, let alone impose the extreme penalty of death.

Dealt with the aspect of DNA evidence in the case, the top court said, "Entire process of collection and examination of samples and the consequent matching of the DNA becomes suspicious and wholly unreliable. We are thus convinced that the DNA report cannot be treated as a reliable piece of evidence." The case was lodged on November 21, 2014 on the missing complaint filed by the victim's father but four days later her mortal remains were discovered. PTI ABA ABA AMK AMK