Twist in the Tale

There came an unexpected turn in the Saif Ali Khan attack story when the media reported, quoting sources, that the fingerprints found in Khan’s residence did not match with that of the arrested man. It led to the Mumbai police calling a press conference and stating that they were yet to get the fingerprint report but were sure it was the correct arrest. Online, some have also pointed out that the CCTV images made public did not resemble the accused.

The evidence will be sifted in court but there is often a pattern to how such high-profile crimes play out. In the lower courts, the accused are convicted but once the higher judiciary gets involved, it becomes a different story. Just this week, you had an instance of it. In 2014, a software engineer Esther Anuhya was returning to Mumbai after a Christmas break in Andhra Pradesh. She stepped out of the station and was not heard again. Her burnt body was recovered later.

A couple of months later, the police arrested Chandrabhan Sanap, who they said posed as a taxi driver but fooled her into getting on his bike and then on the way, raped and murdered her. They based his arrest on CCTV footage which showed him and her in the same frame. But on January 28, the Supreme Court acquitted Bhan because the police’s evidence and the manner in which it was collected, like the CCTV foot­age, was riddled with holes and absence of the required process. Only circumstantial evidence existed but it was not convincing to the court. They observed, “All these facts cumulatively constrain us to conclude that there are gaping holes in the prosecution story leading to the irresistible conclusion that there is something more than what meets the eye in this case.”

Whether the same pattern will play out with Khan’s attacker will only be known years from now. This long time lag between assuaging public outrage and the even­tual verdict when there are no punitive consequences for faulty investigations is probably a reason why the phenomenon continues.

CCTV FootagecrimeIndian societyjudiciaryMumbai PoliceSaif Ali KhanSupreme Court