On August 24, the Madhya Pradesh High Court struck down the rape conviction of Sumit, handed down about a decade ago. The “whole trial” that led to his conviction by a sessions court in Dhar “appears to be a farce”, Justice Subodh Abhyankar observed, not least because the police “literally slept over the forensic reports”. The result was that the real culprit was never caught and Sumit, now 43, ended up being locked away for 10 years. It was a “sheer injustice” not only to Sumit, the judge noted, but also to the victim “whose culprit has never been caught or has walked free today by the order of this court”.
The victim was Arthi. Sumit’s stepmother. She was 26 years old.
