Now Reading: Delhi court acquits man in stabbing case as witnesses turn hostile
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Delhi court acquits man in stabbing case as witnesses turn hostile
A Delhi court has acquitted Pankaj Jha, accused of stabbing his sister-in-law Ganga Jha with a knife in April 2023. Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar ruled that the prosecution failed to prove…
The Story in Brief
A Delhi court has acquitted Pankaj Jha, accused of stabbing his sister-in-law Ganga Jha with a knife in April 2023. Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar ruled that the prosecution failed to prove charges of attempted murder and house trespass after the victim, complainant, and an eyewitness turned hostile.
During the trial, Hindustan Times reports, the witnesses claimed the woman was pushed and injured by an object on the ground, not stabbed. While the seized knife had the woman's blood, the court noted no evidence linked the accused to the weapon. The court said there was not a scintilla of evidence against the accused and acquitted him.
The Indian Opinion
The narrative that witness hostility always lets off the guilty ignores the court's duty to apply the beyond-reasonable-doubt standard. Here, the witnesses themselves contradicted the FIR with a plausible alternative. The real test is whether police investigation was thorough: was the knife tested for fingerprints? The judgment notes no such evidence. Until trial reforms address witness intimidation and weak forensics, such acquittals will keep feeding the perception of a broken system.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
