A 20-page judgment written by Justice M.Y. Eqbal on the appeal against conviction in a dowry death case held that speed should not be at the cost of the court abandoning the search for truth.
The case deals with the suicide of Renukaben Maheshbhai Patel from Mehsana district in Gujarat, a woman married for two years and mother of an infant girl. In her dying declaration, she recounted her in-laws’ harassment. They were subsequently charged with abetment of her suicide and dowry death.
The initial trial lasted a total of nine days in the sessions court. In fact, the entire examination and cross-examination of witnesses in court was completed in a day. The verdict of acquittal was rendered the same evening on January 7, 2005.
Three years later, on an appeal by the State government, the State High Court reversed the trial court verdict, holding all the accused guilty and sentencing them to seven years’ imprisonment.
Upholding the High Court decision, the Supreme Court Bench of Justices Eqbal and A.M. Sapre, called the case “exceptional” and an example of how the trial court “abandoned its prime duty to appreciate the evidence in search of the truth in a hurry to dispose of the case for some other reason.”
The apex court deplored the conduct of the prosecution, which behaved more like the defence.
The judgment condemned how the Sessions Court played along, dropping prosecution witnesses and ignoring material evidence like the victim’s dying declaration.
“If deficiency in investigation or prosecution is visible or can be perceived by lifting the veil trying to hide the realities or covering the obvious deficiencies, courts have to deal with the same with an iron hand appropriately within the framework of law,” Justice Eqbal wrote.
