'IO Literally slept on forensic report': Madhya Pradesh High Court overturns rape conviction; directs investigation against IO

The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently overturned a conviction for rape and murder and ordered convict's release after 10 years. Court further ordered an investigation against the Investigating Officer in the case for failing to order forensic tests.

The Indore bench of the High Court ordered convict's release while noting that the IO "literally slept over the forensic reports".

The bench comprising Justice Subodh Abhyankar and Justice Satyendra Kumar Singh noted, "It appears that after arresting the appellant and completing the formalities of collecting evidence, the investigating officer has literally slept over the forensic reports."

The bench further directed the government to investigate into the issue of lapses and proceed against the responsible officers who are found guilty of dereliction of their duties.

The bench also opined that no efforts were made by the IO to get DNA profiling done which led to sheer injustice, not only to the appellant but also to the deceased whose culprit was never caught.

The accused is the victim's stepson and the one who filed the first complaint after finding the undressed body of her stepmother. There were obvious traces of a sexual assault and she had been killed with a stone. Police pulled hair from the victim's clenched fingers and discovered broken bangles and a stone that was stained with blood.

The stepson was detained, found guilty, and given a life sentence. He filed an appeal in the High Court, and his attorney argued that despite the fact that police had discovered hair on the victim's fingers, no forensic evidence linked the convict to the crime.

The High Court noted that although the forensic report suggested a DNA test, the prosecution did not submit a DNA result despite it seeming that the hairs belonged to the attacker.

The bench noted, "No efforts were made by the investigating officer to get DNA profiling done which has led to sheer injustice, not only to the appellant but also to the deceased whose culprit has never been caught or has walked free today by the order of this court."

The High Court said, "The prosecution relied upon the 'last seen together' evidence, despite having one of the best evidences which could be made available in these modern times to a prosecution agency - the hairs in the hands of the deceased, which could have been very well matched with the hairs of the appellant through DNA profiling. But for reasons best known to the prosecution, it has not proceeded with this crucial DNA testing of the hairs."

Lastly, the High Court opined that "they would be failing in their duties if they do not express their utter displeasure with the manner in which the investigating agency proceeded".

Case Title: Habu @ Sunil S/o Motia @ Motilal Bheel Vs. The State of Madhya Pradesh