Suspicion, however strong, can't take place of proof: Court; acquits woman in murder case

Thane: A Thane court has acquitted a 36-year-old woman in a 2018 murder case, observing that while there were suspicions surrounding the accused, the prosecution failed to establish her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

"Suspicion howsoever strong cannot take place of proof," Principal District and Sessions Judge S B Agrawal said in the order passed on Monday.

The circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution was insufficient to prove that the accused, Ruma Begam Anwar Hussain Lashkar, was responsible for the murder, the court noted.

According to the prosecution, the woman had allegedly murdered Kabir Ahmed Lashkar by strangulating him with a cloth, hitting on his private parts with a sharp weapon and assaulting him with a brick.

The decomposed body was found wrapped in a sheet inside a locked house at Sainagar on Ghodbunder Road in Maharashtra's Thane city by the landlord on March 19, 2018.

The woman was traced to Bengaluru after the incident.

The deceased had earlier worked with the woman at a cycle store in Bengaluru and was later employed at a cycle shop in Thane's Kasarwadavli area.

The prosecution contended the two were in a relationship between 2016 and 2018, which eventually soured due to disputes over marriage.

The case, based entirely on circumstantial evidence, leaned heavily on mobile call data records (CDRs) and statements of the house landlord and his wife.

While the prosecution asserted that the accused woman had travelled from Bengaluru to Thane and was seen with the deceased, the court noted the lack of corroborative evidence like motive, eyewitnesses and reliable identification procedures.

The judge observed there was no test identification parade conducted, and after almost six years, for the first time, the landlord identified the accused woman before the court.

He also noted that the forensic analysis showed human blood on items like a knife, underwear, brick and bed-sheet, but none of these were directly linked to the accused.

"Suspicion howsoever strong cannot take place of proof," the judge said.

"Even if all the aforesaid evidence is taken into consideration and accepted as it is, what is at best made out is that the accused was seen by the landlord and landlady with the deceased once, and there is evidence of CDRs which show that there were calls on the mobile number of the deceased on two particular numbers that were purportedly used by the accused at the relevant time," he said.

It cannot be said that the prosecution has been successful in proving the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt, the court observed.

Hence, the accused is acquitted for commission of the offence punishable under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, the court said.