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Kusumavati Gowda v. The Government of Karnataka & Ors.

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1030Decided 21 Sept 2026
Criminal Appeal arising out of SLP(Crl.) No. 5763 of 2026
Justice Sanjay Kumar · Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva

Background

In 2012, a 17-year-old girl from Dharmasthala, Karnataka went missing on her way home from college and was found dead the next day, having been raped and strangled. Her father filed a writ petition seeking a CBI reinvestigation after the original accused, Santhosh Rao, was tried and acquitted, with the trial court itself directing further investigation into other named suspects. The Karnataka High Court dismissed the writ petition seeking fresh investigation; the father passed away after that dismissal, and his widow (the appellant, Kusumavati Gowda) pursued the appeal to the Supreme Court on the family's behalf.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that constitutional courts retain the power to order further or de novo investigation whenever the existing investigation has been conducted in a manner that causes injustice to the victim or points to manipulation, and found the investigation in this case, spanning multiple agencies over more than a decade, shocked the conscience of the Court. It set aside the High Court's order dismissing the writ petition and directed a fresh, de novo investigation into the original FIR, to be conducted by a newly constituted Special Investigation Team of the State of Karnataka, explicitly excluding any officer previously involved in the case. The Court clarified that Santhosh Rao, having already been tried and acquitted, cannot be reinvestigated or re-prosecuted for the same offence under Article 20(2) of the Constitution and Section 300 CrPC, and that the order casts no opinion on the guilt or innocence of any other named individuals, directing the fresh investigation to conclude within three months.

Lesson Learnt

Constitutional courts can order a completely fresh investigation, even years after the original one, if the way a case was investigated appears to have caused injustice to the victim, but a person already acquitted at trial is constitutionally protected from being investigated or tried again for the same offence.

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

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