Supreme Court acquits woman accused of killing her newborn

Authored by: Arpit Kumar (Intern at Legal Soch Foundation)

Meta Description: This news deals with the acquittal of a woman accused of killing her newborn baby by the Supreme Court of India.

Keywords: Killing, Privacy, Newborn

The Supreme Court acquitted a woman accused of killing her newborn baby after having physical relations with a co-villager. Justices Abhay S Oka and Sanjay Karol ruled that there was no evidence to prove the child's ownership or her involvement. The court criticized the Chhattisgarh High Court for finding the woman guilty without solid evidence and overlooking her privacy rights.

"Privacy is a fundamental human right. Regretfully, the perspective adopted and the terminology used by the two lower courts forfeit such a privilege to which the convict-appellant is entitled. Given that there was no discernible connection of any kind between her and the dead kid found in the debris, it is clear that the guilt has been imposed on her without any real basis. The Court said, "The conclusion is based only on the fact that the convict-appellant was a single woman who had been pregnant (as acknowledged in the statement under 313 CrPC)."

The woman filed an appeal with the bench in 2010, challenging a Chhattisgarh High Court ruling that had maintained her life sentence and conviction.

The appellant was living alone in the village after her husband deserted her.

A woman was charged with murder after having relations with co-villager Baiga Gond, resulting in a child. After giving birth, she allegedly killed the child and threw the corpse into a pond. The trial court found the case based on circumstantial evidence, with five of eight witnesses declared hostile. The court concluded that the woman was living alone in the village due to her husband's desert and had become pregnant, though she did not disclose the delivery. The baby's body was found on September 14, 2004, and she had delivered a child 2-3 days prior. The trial court found her guilty and sentenced her to life imprisonment.

This led to the appeal before the Supreme Court.

The convict-appellant denied the accusation of killing a child, claiming that her father, Baiga Gond, forced her to take medicine and miscarried due to her refusal. She argued that she had not killed the child and was being falsely implicated. The top court criticized the judgment's general observations, particularly regarding evidence and witnesses, for its lack of appreciation for a serious offense like Section 302 IPC. The court then examined the statements of all witnesses.

The Court observed that none of the witnesses could substantiate the prosecution's claim that the accused killed the infant by tossing it into the pond upon delivery.

As regards the Section 313 statement of the accused, the Court said that such a statement cannot form the sole basis of conviction and is neither a substantive nor a substitute piece of evidence. The Court said that her Section 313 statement raised several questions on the right to privacy of a woman's pregnancy status.

The court ruled that the convict-appellant was not obliged to disclose her pregnancy and the child she was carrying. The court ruled that while it is legal to disclose aspects of a criminal case, it cannot overstep the fundamental right to privacy. The court found that the accused's statement did not answer questions about the child's details but denied the deceased's recovery. The court concluded that the prosecution's case had gaps, indicating the woman's guilt was not established beyond reasonable doubt. The appeal was allowed, and the High Court judgment was set aside.

The woman was represented by senior attorney Suryanarayana Singh, along with advocates Naresh Kumar and Shantanu Sharma.

The Chhattisgarh government was represented by advocates Gautam Narayan, Asmita Singh, Harshit Goel, and Siddhant Singh.

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