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Ramesh v. State through Inspector of Police

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 592 of 2010)Decided 1 Aug 2014
Criminal Appeal No. 592 of 2010
Justice Dipak Misra · Justice V. Gopala Gowda

Background

An eight-year-old girl disappeared after visiting Ramesh's rice mill with her grandmother. Employees saw him take her behind the mill, and other witnesses later saw him reopening it at night and near a well. Her body was found in that well the next morning. Both lower courts convicted him of rape, murder and concealing evidence.

Decision Breakdown

The Court dismissed Ramesh's appeal and upheld the concurrent convictions and sentences. It found a complete circumstantial chain in the child's last presence with him, his unexplained conduct, the late-night activity near the well and recovery of her shawl at his instance. Although nobody witnessed the actual assault, the established circumstances supported the courts' findings of guilt. The absence of his name from the initial report did not defeat the prosecution. The life terms for rape and murder and the three-year term for concealing evidence, with their fines, remained in force and were to run concurrently.

Lesson Learnt

An offence can be proved without an eyewitness when reliable circumstances form a complete chain excluding a reasonable innocent explanation. The initial report need not contain every detail later established during investigation.

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

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