In a scathing judgment, the Supreme Court of India has acquitted a man who spent 13 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, while the real perpetrator of a sexual assault on a four-year-old girl in Godhra remains free. The apex court highlighted a catastrophic failure of the justice system, where both the wrongfully accused and the survivor were denied justice.
A 'Hopelessly Botched' Investigation
The bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, hearing an appeal from the 2013 Godhra case, did not mince words in condemning the investigation by the Gujarat police. The court stated that the police conducted a "hopelessly botched investigation" that obscured, rather than unveiled, the truth. Shockingly, the bench noted that the entire story implicating the accused was cooked up after consultations a day after the incident, seemingly to protect the real culprit.
The First Information Report (FIR) was found to be severely lacking, missing even basic details like the accused's name or witnesses. The court expressed deep concern over the investigating officer's failure to secure and preserve crucial forensic evidence, which could have provided objective proof. This failure, the bench said, raises a legitimate apprehension that the probe was not fair and that the inaction might have been intended to shield the actual offenders.
Mechanical Courts and a 13-Year Ordeal
The judicial process that followed the flawed investigation compounded the tragedy. The Supreme Court observed that the trial court and the Gujarat High Court had mechanically accepted the prosecution's version without critical scrutiny. They failed to consider the grave inconsistencies, contradictions, and the "highly unnatural conduct of the witnesses" in the correct perspective.
As a result, the innocent man was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He endured nearly thirteen long years behind bars before the Supreme Court's intervention finally brought him relief. The court underscored that this was not just a personal tragedy for him but a systemic failure.
Erosion of Public Faith in Justice
The Supreme Court's verdict went beyond the specifics of the case to issue a stark warning about the health of India's justice delivery system. The bench stated that such mishandling of cases leaves scars on the justice system itself and erodes public faith.
"When investigations are carried out in a manner that betrays their foundational purpose, and trials become mechanical exercises divorced from the quest for truth, the resulting miscarriage of justice reverberates far beyond the confines of the courtroom," the court said. It warned that criminal law, meant to protect the vulnerable, risks becoming "an instrument of unintended cruelty" when procedural lapses and institutional negligence overshadow substantive justice.
The judgment leaves a four-year-old survivor without closure as the real perpetrator was never brought to book, and an innocent man lost over a decade of his life. This case stands as a sobering reminder of the immense human cost when the pillars of investigation and trial fail in their fundamental duty.
