The Kerala High Court acquits Assam migrant Parimal Sahu, who had been sentenced to death by a trial court for the alleged rape and murder of a 60-year-old widow in 2018.

The Division Bench of Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Jobin Sebastian overturned the conviction after finding that the prosecution’s primary witness, the victim’s intellectually disabled son, was legally incompetent to testify.

The Bench observed that the son, though biologically 35 years old, had a mental age of merely seven and a half years. Despite this, the trial court failed to conduct a voir dire examination to assess his competency before recording his statement.

The High Court found that his inconsistent and incoherent answers during cross-examination rendered his testimony unreliable and susceptible to tutoring.

Citing established precedents, the Court held that while the absence of a voir dire is not in itself fatal, in this case, it created grave doubt about the reliability of the witness.

The entire prosecution case having rested on such evidence, the Bench ruled that his deposition must be excluded from consideration.

The Court further rejected the prosecution’s reliance on the alleged confession made by Sahu to doctors during his medical examination.

It reiterated that any statement made by an accused while in police custody, formal or informal, attracts the protection under Section 26 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

The presence of police officers outside the examination room, the Bench said, did not take the accused outside the meaning of “police custody.”

Regarding forensic findings, the Court noted that there were no DNA traces or biological samples linking Sahu to the crime scene.

On the contrary, the absence of scientific corroboration lent weight to his claim of innocence.

The Bench observed that the

“scientific evidence does not render any assistance to the prosecution but rather supports the accused.”

Setting aside both the conviction and death sentence, the High Court directed that Parimal Sahu be released from death row forthwith, holding that the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Case Details

• Case Title: State of Kerala v. Parimal Sahu
• Court: Kerala High Court
• Bench: Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Jobin Sebastian
• Year of Crime: 2018
• Advocates for Accused: Mitha Sudhindran, Shreya Rastogi, Nadia Shalin, Moulika Diwarkar, Riji Rajendran, Bhairavi SN
• Special Public Prosecutor for State: Ambika Devi S

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