Munna Singh, a resident of Bihar's Buxar, faced trial for 43 years before he was finally acquitted on October 11, 2022 due to lack of witnesses.
Singh was booked on September 7, 1979 in a case of physical assault and firing, along with 9 others under IPC sections 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon) and 307 (attempt to murder), according to a report by The Indian Express.
According to IANS, the matter goes back to 1979 when a group of people were allegedly involved in assault and attempt to murder of a local trader of Chaugai village under Murar police station. The trader had named 10-year-old Munna Singh in his FIR.
Singh’s lawyer Rakesh Kumar Mishra said his client was a Class 8 student when he was booked but not treated as a minor in the case till 2012 because of “tardy” investigation and “oversight”.
“The juvenile board examined the case thoroughly. As there was no witness against Munna Singh, he was acquitted of the charges,” said A K Pandey, the juvenile justice board assistant prosecuting officer in Buxar.
Munna Singh said he spent about a month in jail but suffered a lot of mental torture during the case. He also said that for him " justice delayed was justice denied."