According to the Supreme Court, there was no independent witness in the case. (File)
New Delhi:
A convicted murderer from a poor family was given the benefit of the doubt and was acquitted today by the Supreme Court, which said “most poor people cannot go to court”.
The convict was sentenced to life imprisonment for committing theft and murder in 2015 in a village in Haryana.
The verdict was withdrawn today. The Supreme Court has also ordered Haryana’s government to find out if another convict in the case is still in prison so that he can also be released.
“They are poor people, why should they remain in custody,” the Supreme Court wondered.
Rajaram and Chhinda Ram were convicted in February 2015 of killing a 76-year-old woman in Nagpur village in Haryana.
A court sentenced them to life imprisonment and the Supreme Court upheld the verdict in 2019.
Today a two-court bench of judges UU Lalit and Ajay Rastogi said: “These are poor people. Why should they remain in custody? They came through the legal department – we don’t know if the other person is still alive or not. Poor people can’t come to the Supreme Court.”
Rajaram had challenged the Supreme Court order in the Supreme Court using free legal services provided by the state. His co-defendant Chhinda Ram did not appeal his conviction.
Lawyer Minakshi Vij of the state-run Legal Services Authority defended Rajaram, pointing out that no witness saw the convicts enter the woman’s home. The lower court, she said, convicted them based on statements from neighbors who said they had seen the two wandering near the house. But there were no eyewitnesses either.
The Supreme Court said there was no independent witness and at best there was circumstantial evidence against the two men. “The convicts should be given the benefit of the doubt. Because they are poor, they may not know the legal process,” the judges said.
The court will consider the case tomorrow.
