A district court in Chandigarh has acquitted five individuals who were arrested in connection with an attempted murder case registered three years ago. The court cited a lack of evidence as the primary reason for the verdict, leading to the release of the accused.
The Accused and the Charges
The five men who have been acquitted are Monu alias Munna, Karan alias Golu, Tota Ram, Dharminder, and Rohit alias Kancha. While Monu and Karan are residents of Sector 17 in Panchkula, the other three hail from Mauli Jagran in Chandigarh.
They faced serious charges under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation), and relevant sections of the Arms Act.
Case Background and the Alleged Attack
The case dates back to March 22, 2022, when the Mauli Jagran police station received information about a violent assault. According to the initial complaint filed by the victim's mother, Prema, her son Rajan was attacked while returning home around 7:30 PM.
Prema stated in her police complaint that a group of youths surrounded Rajan and brutally assaulted him with iron rods and sticks, leaving him with serious injuries. The police subsequently registered a case and arrested the five individuals.
Why the Case Collapsed in Court
The prosecution's case suffered a fatal blow during the trial. The alleged victim, Rajan, refused to identify any of the accused in court. This crucial turn of events severely weakened the charges against them.
Furthermore, Prema, Rajan's mother and a key witness for the prosecution, also turned hostile. Her testimony did not support the initial claims made in the police complaint.
Advocate Vijay Kumar, who defended the five men, argued that his clients were innocent and had been framed by the police in a false case. He emphasized that the accused had no connection to the incident but had nonetheless spent a considerable amount of time in jail during the legal proceedings.
The combination of the victim's refusal to identify the attackers and the hostile witness led the court to conclude that there was insufficient evidence to convict the accused. Consequently, all five were acquitted of all charges, bringing a controversial case to a close.
