Agra, Oct 26: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pay Rs 6 lakh in compensation to a man who spent six years in jail as an undertrial in a kidnapping and murder case in Agra district before being acquitted, strongly criticising the police investigation and prosecution as a "travesty of justice", Live Law and IANS reported.

Source: Live Law

A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran, disposing of the special leave petition filed by Arun alias Deepak — which had first come before the court as a bail plea — observed: "Six years have been erased from the life of a man on the strength of a concocted story built on mere surmises and conjectures. Not even a rudimentary investigation was carried out." The judgment was authored by Justice Chandran.

Source: IANS

The court directed the State to pay the Rs 6 lakh — an amount it described as paltry in comparison to the years spent in custody — within one month, failing which it will carry interest at 18 per cent per annum. It also directed that a copy of the judgment be sent to the Director General of Police and the Home Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, and said the State Police would do well to educate their officers in the process of investigation.

Source: Live Law

The case arose from FIR No. 367 of 2019, registered at Achhnera police station in Agra district under Sections 364, 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code. The informant's son had gone missing on October 18, 2019, after leaving his workplace at Kiraoli Tehsil; his father first lodged a missing-person report and later told police his son had allegedly been abducted, IANS reported.

Source: IANS

The petitioner had been in custody since November 14, 2019, in a case resting entirely on circumstantial evidence. He was never named in the FIR or in the complainant's statement under Section 161 of the CrPC, and was implicated on the basis of CCTV footage and an alleged confession of a co-accused, the court recorded. Of the other accused, Lalit Kishore died during the trial and his mother remained absconding, leaving the petitioner alone to face trial.

Source: Live Law

In March 2026, while hearing his bail plea, the Supreme Court directed the trial court to conclude the trial within three months. The trial ended in the petitioner's acquittal, after which the apex court called for and examined the trial court's judgment, reports said.

Source: IANS

Examining that judgment, the court listed serious investigative failures: the CCTV footage was unclear and unsupported by the certificate required under Section 65B of the Evidence Act; an alleged ransom demand was never reported to the police; bones recovered during the investigation were never conclusively identified as the missing man's and no DNA comparison was done although the doctor had said it was necessary; the postmortem did not establish the cause of death; forensic results were not disclosed at trial; only six witnesses were examined; and the recoveries were not proved to have been made on lawful disclosure statements, Live Law and IANS reported.

Source: Live Law

The bench said investigating and prosecuting agencies must recognise themselves as stakeholders in the justice delivery system, ensuring justice not only to victims and complainants but also to the accused, who is presumed innocent until proven guilty: "The State cannot shirk from its responsibility to protect its citizens."

Source: Live Law