HC acquits man in 2002 schoolboy murder, cites broken chain of proof

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has set aside the conviction of a man sentenced to life imprisonment for the alleged kidnapping and murder of a 13-year-old school student in West Midnapore over two decades ago.

A division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Prasenjit Biswas ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence to support the conviction.

According to the case, the boy, a Class VII student of Nekurmeni High School, went missing on December 31, 2002, after school. His family filed a missing diary at Belda Police Station. On January 4, 2003, his body was recovered from the sandy bed of the Subarnarekha River. The autopsy concluded that death resulted from cardio-respiratory failure due to shock and haemorrhage caused by cut injuries on the neck and ear. The accused, Raison Hansda, was arrested weeks later after allegedly confessing to villagers in Kanpur under Keshiary Police Station jurisdiction. The prosecution claimed the accused had a prior grudge and was last seen carrying the victim on his bicycle. It also cited recovery of a katari (dagger) and the victim’s school bag based on the accused’s alleged statement.

However, the High Court pointed to serious deficiencies in the prosecution’s case. The key witness, who was said to have seen the accused with the victim, failed to name the boy during her court testimony—though she had named him earlier in her statement to the magistrate under Section 164 CrPC. Witnesses to the seizure of the katari and bag turned hostile and denied proper procedural compliance.

Crucially, the katari was not sent for forensic examination. The investigating officer admitted that neither the weapon nor the school bag had any identification labels and that no attempt was made to link the weapon to the murder scientifically. The court said this lapse was fatal in a case resting entirely on circumstantial evidence.

Citing the lack of conclusive proof on motive, last seen evidence and recovery of weapon, the court said the chain of events was incomplete and did not exclude the possibility of innocence.

The conviction was set aside and the accused ordered to be released unless wanted in any other case.