ROHIT JANGDE Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) A botched investigation leaves many questions unanswered and in the present case, the murder of a six-year-old girl went unpunished and her stepfather was incarcerated on mere conjectures. The impugned judgment of the High Court affirmed the conviction and sentence of the accused, the stepfather, on three circumstances. One, the last seen together theory propounded through a neighbour. Then, the ashes and the bony remnants from the charred remains of the child, having been recovered on the information supplied by the accused. And last, the skull and teeth recovered from a canal having tallied with the sample DNA profile of the biological parents of the girl child, establishing death unequivocally. The High Court also emphasized the aspect of no explanation having been offered by the accused regarding his knowledge of the location from which the bony remnants of the deceased were recovered; an incriminating circumstance under Sec. 106 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Whether these factors would form a complete chain of circumstances leading only to the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused without leaving room for any other hypothesis, is the question arising herein.

(3.) We have heard Dr. Rajesh Pandey, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the accused and Ms. Ankita Sharma, Advocate-on-Record, appearing for the State. We cannot but appreciate the Government Advocate for undertaking the exercise of preparing, for our perusal, a paper-book containing the entire records, both the vernacular and the translation. The hearing on the earlier occasion also raised serious questions as to the custody of the accused, prior to the arrest in the present crime, which persuaded us to pass an order on 14/11/2025, directing the State to produce proof, if any, of the accused having been taken into custody and imprisoned between 5/10/2025 to 10/10/2025. An additional affidavit dtd. 8/12/2025, filed by the State in compliance of our order, producing an arrest/Court surrender memo adds to the confusion, making the truth regarding the crime, further elusive.