New Delhi, Apr 30 A Delhi court has acquitted a man accused of murdering his wife during the COVID-19 lockdown, saying that the prosecution failed to establish his guilt beyond reasonable doubt as key witnesses turned hostile and did not support the case.
Additional Sessions Judge Kumar Rajat was hearing a case against Aftab, who was accused of murdering his wife during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
In an order dated April 28, the court said, "Prosecution could not prove that the accused Aftab had caused injuries to the deceased Saima with the intention to kill her. Even the motive is not proved. Thus, the accused cannot be held to be liable for the offence under Section 302 IPC."
Aftab was arrested after his wife was found with multiple injuries at her rented accommodation in northeast Delhi's Saboli Bagh area on May 17, 2020. She was taken to a hospital, where she was declared brought dead.
According to the prosecution, Aftab had allegedly assaulted his wife following a domestic dispute leading to her death and later fled the scene.
It was also alleged that his brother Istiyar had harboured him and accepted money and a mobile phone to conceal the crime.
"There is no evidence on record that accused Istiyar had knowledge of murder of Saima being committed by accused Aftab and there is no independent witness to the same or to the fact that he had harboured or concealed Aftab to shield him from punishment," the court said.
The court noted that all material public witnesses, including the complainant and family members of the deceased, did not support the prosecution's version and failed to identify Aftab as the assailant.
Many of them were declared hostile and disowned their earlier statements given to the police.
The judge said that the testimonies of these witnesses contained "material omissions, improvements, variations and contradictions", making them unreliable.
The court noted that the post-mortem report confirmed that the death was caused by multiple ante-mortem injuries due to blunt force impact and medical evidence alone could not establish the guilt of the accused in the absence of credible eyewitness or circumstantial evidence.
"This PMR proves that the deceased had died due to various injuries, but the eye witnesses and other public witnesses have not named accused Aftab as the person who caused such injuries nor any weapon was used… which makes prosecution case doubtful," the court said.
The court further found that there was no convincing evidence to show that Istiyar had knowingly harboured the accused after the incident.
"Prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt," the court said, extending the benefit of doubt to both accused persons.
It then acquitted both the accused, Aftab and Ishtiyar, of all charges framed against them.
