Biswajit Das @ Tuma v. State of West Bengal
Case brief
What is this about?
In an appeal against conviction and sentence for sexual assault on a child, the High Court rejected the appellant's claim that the prosecution case was vitiated by the absence of CCTV footage and minor trial discrepancies. The court upheld the conviction and affirmed that the onus lay on the accused to rebut the presumption of guilt.
What did the court decide?
C.R.A. No. 713 of 2017 is dismissed; conviction and sentence affirmed; records sent down.
What the court decided
09 16.09.2021 mb
In the High Court at Calcutta Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction
C.R.A. 713 of 2017
+ IA No. C.R.A.N. 2 of 2020 (Old No. C.R.A.N. 4673 of 2020) +
C.R.A.N. 3 of 2020 (Old No. C.R.A.N. 4674 of 2020)
In the matter of : Biswajit Das @ Tuma……appellant
Mr. Abhra Mukherjee, Mr. Sudip Banerjee, Mr. Souradeep Dutta
…for the appellant
Mr. Ranabir Roy Choudhury, Mr. Sandip Chakraborty
…for the State
Learned counsel for the appellant argues that there were several contradictions in the deposition of the prosecution witnesses, which vitiate the prosecution case, even for the purpose of attracting the presumption under Section 29 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (in brief, “the POCSO Act”). It is contended that although the mother of the victim child, that is, P.W. 3 as well as the grandmother of victim, stated in their evidence that the mother of the victim was in her house on the date of occurrence, P.W. 5, the ‘Aaya’ of the victim child, did not corroborate such statement but stated
Issues for consideration
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the non-production of CCTV footage and discrepancies in witness testimony vitiate the prosecution case under Section 29 of the POCSO Act.
Whether additional evidence regarding CCTV footage should be taken during the hearing of the appeal.
Whether the conviction should be reduced from Section 10 to Section 8 of the POCSO Act.
Parties & counsel
- appellant
Biswajit Das @ Tuma
- respondent
The State
Coram
Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya
Case details
As recorded by the court registry
- Court
- Calcutta HC
- Decided on
- · September
- Registered
- Case no.
- CRA/713/2017
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