Rohtash v. State of Haryana — FSL report failing to support a dowry-poisoning theory

Part of the Forensic Docket on Legal Desire Forensics — a case where forensic or identification evidence broke down on appeal.

The facts

The prosecution’s case, under Sections 302 and 498A of the Penal Code, was that the deceased wife had committed suicide by taking pills or poison after being harassed for dowry by her husband and in-laws.

The trial court found material inconsistencies in the prosecution witnesses’ depositions and acquitted the accused; on appeal the acquittal of the in-laws was maintained, but the husband’s acquittal was reversed and he was convicted.

Before the Supreme Court, the Court held that the version given by the prosecution witnesses about the dowry demand did not find mention in either witness’s earlier statement recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and — decisively — that the FSL report did not support the prosecution’s poisoning theory.

On this basis, the husband’s appeal was allowed.

Why this belongs in the Forensic Docket: A clear failure-registry case for the Docket: a dowry-death conviction that hinges on a poisoning theory cannot survive an FSL report that fails to actually support that theory, however sympathetic the surrounding circumstances.

Case details

Read the full judgment (PDF), sourced from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open dataset (AWS Open Data Registry, CC-BY-4.0).

Explore more in the Forensic Docket or browse the full Forensics hub.