Censuring a Mahila Court judge for concluding a murder trial in a hurried manner, the Madras High Court has acquitted a woman charged with killing her five-year-old daughter by poisoning her food.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and N. Authinathan passed the order while allowing an appeal moved by V. Shobana of Erode assailing the order of Fast Track Mahila Court, which sentenced her to life term.
“This act of the judge in blindly rushing to finish the case is really unwarranted and unfortunate. The judge pronounced the judgment sentencing the poor woman to life imprisonment though absolutely there is no evidence against her. We find there is no convincing evidence to hold that it was this accused that killed the girl,” the Bench said.
Pointing out that the advocate appointed through legal aid to defend the accused during trial chose not to appear in the court during most of the hearings, the judges said, “The trial court also gave the order without providing legal assistance to her, as the woman’s counsel failed to be present in the court on various occasions when the case was taken up. Also when the Public Prosecutor requested time to argue the case, the judge refused to grant time.”
Pulling up the counsel for his dereliction of duty to defend the accused, the Bench said, “It appears that the counsel did not have any concern for ethics and best practises of the legal profession. Such gross negligence on the part of the counsel cannot be allowed to deprive the right of the accused to have legal assistance and to have effective defence.”
The case of the prosecution was that Shobana got separated from her husband and was living with her daughter in her parent’s house in Erode. It was alleged that on August 7, 2015 she gave food mixed with pesticide to her child following which she fainted and was declared dead at a hospital.
