Chandigarh, Jan 4: A local court has acquitted a 19-year-old girl who had spent more than two years in jail after being accused of killing her father in Kishangarh village, citing gaps in the prosecution’s case.
The accused, Asha, was arrested in August 2023 after her father, 52-year-old Sumei Lal, was found fatally injured at their home. The court ordered her release after concluding that the evidence on record did not establish her guilt.
“The prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt,” the court observed while acquitting the accused.
Police had registered the FIR on August 10, 2023, naming Asha as the sole accused. The case was based primarily on the statement of a neighbor, Gulab Singh, an auto driver who lived as a tenant in the village.
According to the prosecution, Singh told police that on August 9, 2023, he entered Sumei Lal’s house to fetch drinking water and found the man lying injured on the floor, while his daughter was cleaning blood. He later claimed that the girl confessed to stabbing her father after he allegedly abused family members under the influence of alcohol.
Public prosecutor argued before the court that the prosecution had proved the case “beyond a shadow of doubt.”
However, defense counsel Gurditt Saini said the complainant retracted his earlier statement during trial. “The witness did not support the prosecution version in court. The alleged confession is not legally sustainable,” Saini said.
He further pointed to the post-mortem report, which recorded only a single stab wound. “If there was an intention to murder, there would have been multiple injuries,” Saini argued.
The defense also maintained that when the witness arrived at the house, Asha was attempting to stop the bleeding and later accompanied her father to the hospital.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court acquitted the accused, bringing an end to the trial that had kept the teenager behind bars for over two years.
