Kolkata: A man sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment for allegedly assaulting a woman in 2012 walked free after the Calcutta High Court ruled that the trial which convicted him was flawed.
The court found that an injury report had been used against the accused without ever being shown to him, a lapse it said violated natural justice. The sessions court in Krishnanagar had in 2014 convicted the Nadia resident under Sections 354 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code, finding him guilty of outraging a woman’s modesty and causing hurt.
The case arose from a complaint that he had entered the woman’s house on the night of July 25, 2012, torn her blouse and sankha, and assaulted her chest before fleeing. She was admitted to Shaktinagar Hospital for four days, and lodged her complaint after discharge.
On appeal, Justice Chaitali Chatterjee Das examined whether the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. The court flagged a serious defect: while the injury report was central to the conviction, it had never been put to the accused during his examination under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code. “The circumstances which are not put to the accused person in examination under Section 313 CrPC cannot be used against him and must be excluded from consideration,” the judgment stated.
The High Court also noted contradictions in the prosecution’s case. The victim’s versions in the FIR, her deposition in court, and her statement before a magistrate varied in material details. Medical records showed only minor tenderness, with no mention of vomiting or injuries consistent with her claims of a violent scuffle.
Independent witnesses, including relatives living nearby, did not support the allegation. Some spoke instead of a quarrel between the accused and the family over spitting near their gate. The victim’s son, who was present in the house at the time, was not examined.
Concluding that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction, the High Court acquitted the appellant and discharged him from his bail bond.