Court acquits Thane man accused of stepson’s murder

A Thane court has acquitted a man accused of killing his 4-year-old stepson, noting that the prosecution failed to establish the chain of circumstances to prove the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sessions Judge SB Agrawal, in the order passed on Tuesday, also highlighted contradictions in the testimonies of the prosecution’s witnesses.

The court directed that Mohammed Dilshad Mohammed Imran (25), who has been in custody since his arrest on July 30, 2024, be set free forthwith if not required in any other case.

According to the prosecution, the man allegedly throttled his wife’s son, born from her previous relationship, in a flat on Ghodbunder Road in the Manpada area of Maharashtra’s Thane city on July 28, 2024, following a dispute over the child’s identity.

The police initially registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) after the man took the child to the hospital, claiming he had suffered a fall due to giddiness induced by epilepsy.

However, following the postmortem examination, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the man under Section 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The court said the prosecution’s case was based on circumstantial evidence, but there was no direct witness who had seen the accused assaulting the victim.

“In a case based on the circumstantial evidence, it is imperative for the prosecution to prove each and every fact that forms a chain of circumstances, which leads to the only conclusion of the guilt of the accused,” it noted.

The autopsy noted multiple injuries on the victim, but it was not made out that all the injuries were fresh. On the contrary, the doctor had opined that some of them were earlier injuries. Even otherwise, in the absence of other material, mere medical opinion would not be sufficient to bring home the guilt of the accused, the court opined.

The prosecution’s claim that the accused offered a false explanation is also not made out, since he has contended that the victim had suffered an epilepsy attack and had fallen because of the same, it noted.

The conduct of the accused also does not seem to be suspicious, as he immediately called the neighbour and took the victim to the hospital, the court said.

Surprisingly, neither the neighbour nor the hospital staff (who attended the victim) have been examined by the prosecution, it pointed out.

The prosecution “failed to establish a complete chain of circumstances,” the court said while acquitting the man.