Five years on, Gharuan woman acquitted of murder

An FIR was registered on the statement of Gurmail Singh, 38, a resident of Sakrulapur village, stated that he worked at Guru Nanak Feed Mill, Bajheri. On July 9, 2020, at 3 pm, his son Harpreet Singh went to play with children of his village, but did not come home after that. Then with the help of villagers around 9 pm, he found his son lying unconscious at the back side of the shop next to his house and foam coming out from his mouth. Gurmail and villagers took Harpreet to the Kharar Civil Hospital, where a doctor declared him brought dead.

On July 12, 2020, the complainant suspected that his son Harpreet was killed by some unknown person/persons and his body thrown near his house. During investigation, statement of Sakrulapur village sarpanch Manwinder Singh was recorded who stated to the police that Amandeep Kaur, alias Shivani, told him that Happy died due to her negligence and fear. Amandeep did not tell anyone, but she did not kill him, the sarpanch said. After recording statement of the sarpanch, accused Amandeep Kaur was arrested by the police.

The court held that the evidence on the record produced by the prosecution does not complete the chain of circumstances leading to an inference that it was only Amandeep Kaur who had killed Harpreet Singh by drowning him in a drum. The extra judicial confession and the non-disclosure of the motive and having no reason with the accused to commit the crime was a missing link in the entire prosecution story, the court stated.

The court concluded: “The prosecution failed to prove the Panchsheel principal for proving the case involving circumstantial evidence. The suspicion, however, grave cannot take the place of cogent proof. Since the circumstantial evidence is not leading this court to the inference of only the accused being the perpetrator of the crime in this case and the circumstances not forming a chain, the point of determination is hereby decided in favour of the accused and against the prosecution. So, in view of the above stated discussion and circumstances, accused Amandeep Kaur is hereby acquitted.”