The Kerala High Court on Thursday convicted five BJP workers accused in the brutal murder of Deepak, a local political leader affiliated with the Janata Dal United (JDU) [State of Kerala v Rishikesh & ors and connected cases].Justice PB Suresh Kumar and Justice Jobin Sebastian found that the trial court's decision to acquit all accused was based on improper evaluation of evidence and technicalities rather than substantive facts. The bench highlighted how wrongful acquittals in serious crimes on grounds of hyper-technicalities could damage public trust in the justice system and potentially encourage criminal behaviour by creating a perception that perpetrators can escape punishment.The Court emphasised that the judiciary's duty is to prevent miscarriage of justice, particularly in cases involving violent crimes."In this context, it is necessary to state that acquittal of guilty persons in serious crimes on technical or flimsy grounds would erode the very foundation of the criminal justice delivery system, which strives to balance individual rights with the preservation of social order. Such outcomes not only shake the faith of the public in the courts as guardians of justice but also deprive society of the protection it seeks from the courts. Such acquittals would also send a dangerous misleading message, suggesting that those responsible for grave offences can evade justice, thereby encouraging an environment of lawlessness. Needless to say, the acquittal of accused 1 to 5 is liable to be interfered with," the Bench added..The Court made the observatios while convicting accused 1 to 5 - Rishikesh, Nijin @ Kunjappu, Prasanth @ Kochu, Rasanth, and Brashnev for their roles in the murder.However, it upheld the trial court's acquittal of the remaining five accused due to insufficient evidence..Deepak, a local JDU leader and ration shop owner, was brutally murdered on March 24, 2015 at Pazhuvil Centre in Thrissur.Eyewitnesses testified that four assailants armed with knives and swords attacked him while he was standing outside his shop. Two bystanders, Sajeev and Stalin, who tried to intervene were also injured.Despite strong evidence, including forensic reports and eyewitness testimonies, the Additional Sessions Court at Thrissur acquitted all ten accused in 2017, leading to appeals before the High Court by the State and Deepak's wife, Varsha Deepak..After carefully analysing the facts and evidence, the High Court observed that the trial court's acquittal was deeply flawed on multiple counts.It strongly criticised how the trial court had dismissed the accounts of injured eyewitnesses merely because of minor discrepancies in medical records.The Court held that that their testimony identifying the assailants was reliable and should not have been discarded.The Court also found that the trial court had committed a grave error by disregarding crucial forensic evidence that directly connected the accused to the crime. The fingerprint analysis had conclusively placed three of the accused inside the Maruti Omni Van used in the crime, while DNA reports matched hair samples from the vehicle to two others, the Bench noted. Most alarmingly, the murder weapon, a knife recovered based on the second accused's (Nijin) confession, was found to have Deepak's blood on it which corroborated the eyewitness accounts. The Court took note of these scientific findings and observed that the trial court had wrongly rejected the evidence.However, it agreed with the trial court's acquittal of accused 6 to 10 as the prosecution failed to prove a concrete agreement among all accused to murder Deepak.Mere association or suspicion was insufficient to establish criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Court said. .Ultimately, the Court convicted two accused (Nijin and Prasanth) under Section 302 IPC for Deepak’s murder, while 3 others (Rishikesh, Rasanth and Brashnev) were held liable under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC (common intention).Nijin was additionally convicted under Section 324 IPC for assaulting a witness and Rasanth under Section 326 IPC for causing grievous harm to another witness.The sentence in the case will be pronounced on April 8..Senior Public Prosecutor SU Nazar represented the State while advocate Nireesh Mathew appeared for Deepak's wife.Senior Counsel P Vijaya Bhanu along with advocates S Rajeev and Arjun Sreedhar appeared for the accused..[Read Judgment]
