The prosecution must prove the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt, especially in capital cases; failures in fair trial procedures and unreliable circumstantial evidence undermine convictions.

JUDGMENT

Mehta, J.

1. Heard.

2. The appellant herein was tried by the learned Sessions Judge, Mahila Court, Chengalpet¹[Hereinafter, referred to as ‘trial Court’] in Special Sessions Case No. 33 of 2017 for the offences punishable under Sections 363 , 366, 354-B, 302, and 201 of the INDIAN PENAL CODE , 1860²[For short, ‘IPC’] and Section 8 read with Section 7 and Section 6 read with Section 5 (m) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012³[For short, ‘POCSO Act’]. The trial Court, vide judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 19th February, 2018 convicted the accused-appellant⁴[Hereinafter, referred to as ‘appellant’.] for the aforementioned offences and sentenced him in the terms indicated below: -

3. Being aggrieved, the appellant preferred an appeal⁵[Criminal Appeal No. 234 of 2018.] before the High Court of Judicature at Madras⁶[Hereinafter, referred to as ‘High Court’.] for assailing his conviction and the sentences awarded to him. The trial Court also forwarded a reference⁷[Referred Trial No. 1 of 2018.] under Section 366 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973⁸[Hereinafter, referred to as ‘CrPC’.] for confirmation of the death sentence. The learned Division Bench of the High Court vide common judgment dated 10th July, 2018, dismissed the appeal preferred by the appellant and answered the reference in the affirmative thereby confirming the death sentence awarded to the appellant by the trial Court. The said judgment of the High Court is the subject matter of challenge in these appeals by special leave.

FACTUAL MATRIX: -

4. In brief, the story of the prosecution is that a seven-year old female child victim⁹[Hereinafter, referred to as ‘victim’ or ‘child victim’.], being the daughter of C.S.D. Babu (PW-1)¹⁰[Hereinafter, referred to as ‘complainant (PW-1)’.] and Sridevi (PW-2), went missing on 5th February, 2017. The parents had gone out shopping, and when they returned at about 7:15 p.m., they did not see their daughter around, upon which a search was made with the help of the neighbours including the appellant. The police were also informed, but the efforts to trace out the child did not yield any results. The hapless father, C.S.D. Babu (PW-1) filed a complaint¹¹[Exhibit P-1] at Mangadu Police Station at around 10:00 p.m. on 5th February, 2017 itself and based upon the same, a missing persons’ case was registered. The complainant (PW-1), in his efforts to get clues about the whereabouts of his child, claims to have browsed video footage of a CCTV camera installed at a nearby temple which gave an indication as to the manner in which the child victim might have been kidnapped. The police also followed the lead provided by the complainant (PW-1) and went through the CCTV footage after which the needle of suspicion turned towards the appellant.

5. Based on this suspicion, the appellant was arrested on 8th February, 2017 at about 9 a.m. He allegedly confessed and made a disclosure statement¹²[Exhibit P-8] to N. Ravikumar, 1st Investigation Officer (PW-29)¹³[Hereinafter, referred to as ‘Investigation Officer (PW-29)’] in the presence of Sumathi (PW-7),