HC acquits man in a case of murder of seven-year-old girl

The Delhi High Court today acquitted a man, who was sentenced to life term for strangulating a seven-year-old girl, saying his conviction cannot be upheld on the basis of just a single evidence and that his conduct immediately after the incident does not show his guilt.
A division bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Mukta Gupta set aside the life imprisonment awarded to Pawan Kumar and said his conviction cannot be upheld on the basis of single evidence, i.E statement of the child's mother.
"We can only conclude that the deceased was last seen with Pawan. However, his subsequent conduct is not compatible to his guilt.

"On the basis of this single evidence (statement of victim's mother), we cannot uphold his conviction and we extend the benefit of doubt to him. The conviction of the appellant for offence under sections 302/201(murder and causing evidence to disappear) of IPC is set aside," the bench held.
The trial court had last year awarded life imprisonment to Pawan for murder and destruction of evidence.
He was acquitted by the trial court of the charges of rape and unnatural offence.

Pawan had challenged the trial court judgement on the ground that he was not connected with the offence and nothing adverse could be inferred from his conduct.

According to the prosecution, the victim resided with her family as a tenant in the house of Pawan who ran a grocery shop at Fatehpur Beri, Jhanda Colony here.
On October 16, 2007, the victim went to play outside her house where Pawan was also present.
Later, Pawan informed the mother of the victim that the her daughter was missing, the prosecution said.
Following a search, the body of the victim was found in a white plastic bag in a vacant plot adjacent to their house. The girl died due to strangulation and head injury, it said.
On the basis of the mother's statement, Pawan was arrested.

The child's mother, in her statement to the trial court, had said that on the day of the incident Pawan was alone in his house and was keeping an eye on the children, including her daughter, playing outside the gate.
When her daughter went missing, Pawan informed her and also took her on his scooter to search for the minor, she had said.
She said while riding the scooter, Pawan's hands were trembling and was also frightened.
The trial court had relied on the statement of the woman while convicting Pawan for the child's murder.