Unmarried Sisters-in-Law Declared Honourably Acquitted as "In Absence of Evidence" Is Expunged: Rajasthan High Court

The wife of the petitioners' brother lodged a report that led to a charge-sheet against her husband, his parents and the two petitioners under Sections 498A, 406, 420, 384 and 120B IPC (paras 6-7). The other three accused were acquitted on a compromise, but the trial went on against the sisters (paras 1, 6). On 06.08.2012 the Magistrate at Sambhar Lake acquitted them, giving them the "benefit of doubt" (paras 1, 6). As they were preparing for competitive examinations, they sought revision. The Additional Sessions Judge deleted "benefit of doubt" but recorded instead that they were acquitted "in absence of evidence" (paras 2, 8). They challenged the new wording; the Public Prosecutor opposed (paras 2-4).

The complainant and the other prosecution witness could not prove the case against the petitioners (para 6). The Court observed that matrimonial complaints are often filed in the heat of the moment and implicate distant relatives; it was unlikely that the unmarried sisters-in-law, who had nothing to gain, harassed the complainant for dowry (para 7). If the Revisional Court found no evidence against them, it should have acquitted them honourably (para 8). "Honourable acquittal" is not defined in the CrPC or the IPC; it is a judicial coinage (paras 9-10, 13). It fits a case where the court, on full appreciation of the evidence, concludes that the accused did not commit the offence, as against an acquittal for lacunae in the prosecution case or want of credible evidence (paras 11-12). Here the prosecution had miserably failed to prove the charges and both courts below found no evidence, so an honourable acquittal should have been recorded; both labels used below would affect the petitioners' careers (paras 14-15).