Gujarat HC upholds acquittal in alleged rape and murder case as chain of circumstances was not complete
The question: Whether the High Court should interfere with an acquittal based on a view of the evidence that was reasonably possible
The Gujarat High Court has dismissed, at the admission stage, the State's appeal against the acquittal of an accused who was tried for the alleged rape and murder of his fiancée, whom the prosecution described as a minor. A Bench of Justice Ilesh J. Vora and Justice R. T. Vachhani held that the prosecution, which relied wholly on circumstantial evidence, had not proved its circumstances by reliable and clinching evidence, and that the Trial Court's acquittal was a plausible view with no perversity in it. The appeal (Criminal Appeal No. 1150 of 2026) was filed under Section 419 of the BNSS, corresponding to Section 378 of the Cr.P.C. It challenged the judgment of the trial court in Special (POCSO) Case No. 31 of 2022, dated 29.11.2025, which acquitted the accused of offences under Sections 302 and 376(2)(n)(3) of the IPC and Sections 4, 5(L) and 6 of the POCSO Act. According to the prosecution, the body of the girl was found in a farm on 09.07.2022. It alleged that the accused called her to the spot, raped her, and then, harbouring suspicion, strangled her with his hand and later with a scarf. The prosecution examined 28 witnesses and exhibited 54 documents. The Trial Court found that the prosecution had not even proved that the deceased was a minor, and that motive, conduct, the discovery of the place under Section 27 of the Evidence Act and the forensic evidence were not established as a complete chain.