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Dhanraj v. State of Rajasthan

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 958Decided 7 Sept 2026
Crl.A. No.-000135-000135 - 2026
Justice Sandeep Mehta · Justice Manmohan

Background

In December 2016, a five-year-old girl went missing from her village in Ajmer, Rajasthan, and was later found by villagers bleeding from her private parts after being sexually assaulted by an unknown boy who lured her away on the pretext of buying toffee. An FIR was registered against an unknown person, and the accused-appellant, Dhanraj, was arrested about two months later and identified by the victim in a Test Identification Parade (TIP). He was convicted by the trial court under the POCSO Act and IPC provisions including Section 376 (rape) and sentenced to life imprisonment, a conviction the Rajasthan High Court upheld, leading to this appeal to the Supreme Court after Dhanraj had already spent over nine years in custody.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found two fatal flaws in the prosecution's case. First, the medical evidence showed the victim's injuries were 5-7 days old at the time of examination on 7 December 2016, meaning the assault could not have occurred on 5 December 2016 as alleged in the FIR: a material discrepancy going to the root of the case. Second, and more critically, despite the accused being physically present in court when the victim testified, neither the prosecuting counsel nor the trial judge ever had the victim identify Dhanraj in the courtroom during her deposition, relying solely on the earlier police-conducted TIP, even though the accused had never been named in the FIR itself and the victim admitted police had told her his name. The Court held that trial judges have a duty to actively participate in eliciting truth (not just passively record proceedings), and that this omission, combined with the medical timeline discrepancy, meant the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. Given the accused had already spent over nine years in custody, the Court declined to order a retrial, set aside both lower court judgments, and acquitted him.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction cannot rest merely on an out-of-court identification parade when the prosecution had every opportunity, and a corresponding duty, to have the witness identify the accused directly in the courtroom during trial, and judges are expected to actively ensure such crucial evidentiary gaps are filled rather than remaining passive umpires.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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