Acid Attack: “Administration of justice cannot ignore the victim who has died and cannot cry before it”, SC

The Supreme Court on Friday lamented at the rise in the number of acid attacks despite amendments to penal laws, noting that acid attack is a gender based violence, and laws and enforcement agencies might not be sufficient to bring down such attacks..A Bench of Justices NV Ramana and PC Pant also stressed the need to have a victim based approach in such cases..The Bench was hearing an appeal filed by the brother of the deceased acid attack victim against a judgment of acquittal by the Calcutta High Court. The accused, it was alleged, had thrown acid on the deceased for filing a rape case against them..The trial court had convicted the accused and sentenced to them death but the same had been overturned by the High Court on the ground that evidence and materials before the court were unsatisfactory and there were defects in framing of charges and examination of accused..The Supreme Court in its judgment stated that the present case is an example of complete insensitiveness on the part of the police, the doctors and the system towards the victim..“The High Court appears to have adopted a casual approach in appreciating the facts, circumstances and evidence of the case, particularly, in a case where the trial court has awarded capital punishment in a sensitive matter. 14. The High Court has allowed itself to be swayed by the fact that the First Information Report in the present case is delayed by twenty three days but it has failed to appreciate the fact that the helpless woman, who was admitted by the neighbours in the hospital, had moron husband and two little kids at home, and none of them were able to go to police station and get the First Information Report recorded. Observations of the trial court while examining PW-4 Niranjan Gucchait that he is incapable to understand questions and answers, and he could not be examined, has been completely ignored by the High Court.”.The Court went on to state the function of a criminal court is to find out the truth and not pick out minor lapses in investigation and acquit the accused..“In our opinion, it is almost impossible to come across a single case where the investigation was completely flawless or absolutely foolproof. The function of the criminal court is to find out the truth and it is not the correct approach to simply pick up the minor lapses of the investigation and acquit the accused, particularly when the ring of truth is undisturbed.”.The Court also stated that accused is only entitled to the benefit of reasonable doubt and if the benefits of all kinds of doubts raised on behalf of the accused are accepted, it will result in deflecting the course of justice..“It may be mentioned that it is not every doubt but only a reasonable doubt of which benefit can be given to the accused. A doubt of a timid mind which is afraid of logical consequences, cannot be said to be reasonable doubt…..The accused is entitled to get benefit of only reasonable doubt, i.e. the doubt which rational thinking man would reasonably, honestly and conscientiously entertain and not the doubt of a vacillating mind that has no moral courage and prefers to take shelter itself in a vain and idle scepticism. The administration of justice has to protect the society and it cannot ignore the victim altogether who has died and cannot cry before it. If the benefits of all kinds of doubts raised on behalf of the accused are accepted, it will result in deflecting the course of justice. The cherished principles of golden thread of proof of reasonable doubt which runs through web of our law should not be stretched morbidly to embrace every hunch, hesitancy and degree of doubt.”.Interestingly, Justice Ramana in his separate concurring judgment observed that the number of acid attacks are on the rise despite amendments to penal laws in 2013. He stated that acid attacks have transformed into a gender based violence and gender bias prevalent in the society has to be uprooted to curb such violence..“Usually vitriolage or acid attack has transformed itself as a gender based violence. Acid attacks not only cause damage to the physical appearance of its victims but also cause immense psychological trauma thereby becoming a hurdle in their overall development. Although we have acknowledged the seriousness of the acid attack when we amended our laws in 2013, yet the number of acid attacks are on the rise. Moreover, this Court has been passing various orders to restrict the availability of corrosive substance in the market which is an effort to nip this social evil in the bud.2 It must be recognized that having stringent laws and enforcement agencies may not be sufficient unless deep-rooted gender bias is removed from the society.”.The Court therefore, proceeded to hold the main accused, Purnendu Kumar Patra, guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Regarding the second accused, Rabin Jana, the court concurred with the verdict of the High Court in acquitting him on the ground that he neither had the motive or intent to commit the crime and might have accompanied the accused to pressurise the victim to withdraw the rape case..Read the full judgment below.