Recovery of auto, slippers, notebook did them in

CHANDIGARH: It was strong circumstantial evidence in the form of the recovery of an auto belonging to accused Sunita and registered in the name of her husband, “chappal” (slippers) and a notebook belonging to 11-year-old Pinky that led to the conviction of the three accused in the case.

Aneesha Sareen

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 28

It was strong circumstantial evidence in the form of the recovery of an auto belonging to accused Sunita and registered in the name of her husband, “chappal” (slippers) and a notebook belonging to 11-year-old Pinky that led to the conviction of the three accused in the case.

The court stated that the recovery was effected from the accused in pursuance of their disclosure statements and it was proved that all accused hatched a conspiracy to kidnap the girl and then murdered her and threw her body in the bushes.

In the 128-page judgment passed by the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Anshu Shukla today, the court, while sentencing the three accused to life imprisonment, stated that the evidence adduced at the time of the trial and the circumstances sought to be proved against the accused were of incriminating nature and formed a chain so as to connect one circumstance with the other and ultimately connecting the circumstances with the hypothesis that in all probability it was the accused who committed the crime. The court relied on the disclosure statements of the convicts, which had led to the recovery of the auto, the slippers and the notebook and which also fully “satisfied the Evidence Act”.

“The authenticity of the disclosure statements and the resultant recoveries cannot be doubted. It is proved on record that the auto in which the minor girl was made to sit and was murdered belongs to the husband of one of the accused, Sunita, alias Billa. It was on the disclosure statement of Sunita that the auto-rickshaw was recovered by the police. Recovery thereof at the instance of accused Sunita is not at all doubtful,” said the court.

“On the disclosure statement of the juvenile accused (who later absconded and was declared a proclaimed offender), a plastic bag was recovered from the bushes and on checking a pair of black and white slippers was recovered, which was identified by Pinky’s father Ram Kirpal. Similarly, on the basis of the disclosure statement of accused Raj Kumar, a plastic bag was recovered from the bushes and on checking a notebook was recovered from the bushes and the handwriting in the copy was identified as that of Pinky. Thus the recoveries of the notebook, a pair of slippers and auto at the instance of the accused are authentic,” said the court.

The court also stated that the medical evidence also proved that the minor was sexually assaulted and raped before being killed.

Section 114 of Evidence Act satisfied, says court

“As there was no direct evidence in the case, the court, while passing the orders, relied on Section 114 of the Evidence Act which enables the court to presume the existence of probable facts. The minor girl was made to sit in the auto by accused Sunita and the other accused kept roaming in the auto with the girl at different places and thereby committed the murder and threw her body in order to destroy evidence. Thus conditions of Section 114 of the Evidence Act are satisfied,” said the court.