C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy, J.

“Throughout history, it has been inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph."-Haile Selassie

2. Gruesome murder of an innocent teen-aged girl of seventeen years, by name Ayesha Meera, known almost to every household in the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh, for wrong reasons though, was the subject matter of Sessions Case No.34 of 2009 on the file of the Sessions Judge, Mahila Court, Vijayawada, Krishna District.

3. The appellant herein was prosecuted on the charges of both rape and murder. The plea of the parents of the deceased (P.Ws.1 and 13) put forth with conviction that the appellant is an innocent boy implicated by the Police in order to save real culprits, notwithstanding, the appellant was made to stand trial, convicted for the aforementioned offences, and sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and to pay fine of Rs.1,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to suffer simple imprisonment for six months for the offence under Section 302 IPC, and also to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years and to pay fine of Rs.1,000/-, and in default of payment of fine, to suffer simple imprisonment for six months for the offence under Section 376 IPC. The sentences were directed to run concurrently.

The Case of the Prosecution

4. The prosecution case briefly runs as under:

(i) Basing on the information that one Ayesha Meera (hereinafter referred to as "the deceased"), who was a student of 1st year B. Pharmacy of Nimra College of Ibrahimpatnam and who was staying in Sri Durga Ladies Hostel, West Imbrahimpatnam, was murdered and raped on 27.12.2007 at about 2.00 a.m., given by P.W.7, husband of P.W.6 the warden, running the hostel, P.W.27-the Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, Ibrahimpatnam, directed P.W.26-Police Constable to guard the scene of offence, informed the incident to his superior police officials and rushed to the scene of offence. P.W.7 also informed the incident to the parents of the deceased (P.Ws.1 and 13-mother and father of the deceased respectively) over phone. P.Ws.1 and 13, and P.W.12, a colleague of P.W.13, working and residing in Tenali, reached the scene of offence from Tenali at about 8.45 a.m. P.W.30-Inspector of Police obtained a report from P.Ws.1 and 12 and on his direction P.W.29-Sub-Inspector of Police registered the same as First Information Report (FIR) in Crime No.477 of 2007 under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and submitted copies of express FIR to all the officers concerned.

(ii) P.W.30-Inspector of Police took up the investigation of the case, inspected the scene of offence with the assistance of clues team in the presence of the mediators-P.Ws.18 and 19 and got drafted an observation report. He prepared rough sketch of the scene of offence and also got prepared a sketch of the entire building. He has seized (i) a letter addressed to the hostellers in Telugu on the reverse of a photo copy of non-judicial stamp paper signed by P.W.13, wherein on the typed material, the words "Chirutha", "Cheran Teja", "143" and "love symbols" were found written by the appellant; (ii) one blood stained cloth piece having light brown colour dots collected from the bed of the deceased; (iii) one blood stained pillow cover containing pink, brown and violet colours; (iv) one blood stained yellow and orange colour bed sheet; (v) blood stained earth lifted near the cot in the hall; (vi) bloodstained earth in verandah; (vii) bloodstained earth near bathroom door (viii) bloodstained earth near left leg of the deceased; (ix) bloodstained earth near right side of head of the deceased; (x) pieces of hair near bathroom; (xi) bloodstained towel near head of the deceased; (xii) Fabclip green colour pencil; (xiii) Link Icon dot gel orange colour ball pen; (xiv) Speed Hiway company lemon yellow blue colour ball pen; (xv) bloodstained gr