'Trial Court Swayed By Issue Of Honour Killing, Great Travesty Of Justice': P&H High Court Acquits Father & Uncle Sentenced To Death For Alleged Honour Killing

Observing that "a great travesty of justice has occurred in recording the conviction of the appellants by the Trial Court", the Punjab & Haryana High Court has acquitted the father and uncle of a girl who were sentenced to death for allegedly committing her "honour killing."

The trial court convicted the father and uncle of the deceased girl and sentenced them to death, for allegedly murdering her because they objected to her for being in a romantic relationship with a boy belonging to another caste and did not agree to their marriage.

While pointing out the missing links in the circumstantial evidence and contradictory medical evidence, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji said, "we are of the considered opinion that a great travesty of justice has occurred in recording the conviction of the appellants by the Trial Court which had failed to consider the fact that the medical evidence on record was completely contrary to what the case of the prosecution was."

"The Trial Court got swayed by the issue of honour killing without taking into consideration the fact that appellant No.1 had lost his daughter but went on to hold him guilty of the offence of murder under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC along with his brother even in the absence of any conclusive material on record and it is a case of circumstantial evidence," the bench added.

The Court also pointed out the 'over-eagerness and over-zealousness' on the part of the Investigating Officer which was ignored by the Trial Court and noted that he had failed to send the alleged murder weapon- a pillow used to allegedly smother her, for forensic testing.

The bench highlighted that the travesty was further compounded by the fact that the appellants had undergone 11 years, 4 months and 6 days of actual custody period as per their custody certificate dated 18.01.2024.

It was observed that the trial court pronounced the death sentence by concluding that the outcome of the death was on account of the murder of the girl due to feudal mindset and the extreme punishment of death had been awarded because the complainant and the deceased belonged to different communities.

The defence had argued that the deceased had committed suicide out of humiliation due to the 'brawl' which had taken place at the house of the appellants.

 Reasoning For Acquittal

The Court opined that the case of the prosecution was based on circumstantial evidence and the accusations made by the complainant, who claimed to be the deceased girl's lover.

"There is no eye-witness to vouch for the same and the deceased had died in her own house. We have already noticed that the complainant being connected with the deceased was claiming to be her lover could have faced prosecution on the fact that the deceased had committed suicide since it is the specific case of the defence that he was harassing the deceased and a incident had also taken place outside the house which has also been proved in evidence by the defence," the Court noted.

It also questioned the credibility of the complainant stating that the credibility of the complainant itself needed to be examined along with whether the prosecution had been able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Furthermore, it pointed out that the IO had acted in a "slipshod manner"  by projecting that the deceased died due to suffocation and recovered a pillow from the house of the uncle of the deceased which was adjoining to the house of the deceased.

Court held that there was nothing to show that there were any saliva stains on the pillow nor was the pillow sent to the Forensic Laboratory to find out whether there were any such stains.

Court observed that apparently, the cause of death was on account of poisoning which was never investigated at any point in time and the challan was filed blindfolded by Inspector Hardip Singh, Inspector since the earlier Investigating Officer had already been transferred.

"The medical evidence being contrary to what had been initially projected, goes on to shatter the prosecution case and snaps the link and the fact that the challan being presented long before the FSL report was submitted further betrays the case of the prosecution. Thus, the deceased having committed suicide on account of the stormy relationship between the complainant and her cannot thus be ruled out and the benefit of doubt thus has to go to the appellants," the Court observed.

The Court added that in normal circumstances the opposition would have been from the boy's family who belonged to an upper caste and there would be no such opposition from the lower caste family of the girl if she was going to be married in a higher caste.

The bench said that the girl committing suicide on account of being harassed or wanting to bring an end to the relationship could be another aspect for her death, and as such the benefit has to go to the appellants rather than putting a reverse onus on them under Section 106 of the Evidence Act. 

In light of the above, the Court acquitted both the appellants and declined the plea for confirmation of the death sentence.

Brijesh Nandan, Advocate for the appellants in CRA-D-1698-DB-2014 and for the respondents in MRC-4-2014.

V.G.Jauhar, Addl.A.G., Punjab for the appellant in MRC-4-2014 and for the respondent in CRA-D-1698-DB-2014

 Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (PH) 50