The Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed the state government’s appeal challenging the acquittal of Prakash Vishwas, accused of culpable homicide and dowry harassment after his wife, Kavita Vishwas, died of burn injuries in Panna, highlighting the prosecution’s failure to produce critical evidence. The order underscores the judiciary’s insistence on complete and fair disclosure by the state in criminal trials.
Kavita Vishwas sustained burns on May 30, 2020, while preparing tea at her home and later died in hospital on June 26, 2020. Though her husband Prakash was accused of dowry related offences, her dying declaration, recorded by naib tahsildar Deepa Chaturvedi in the presence of her parents and brother, clearly stated that no one was responsible for her injuries.
The prosecution, relying on the complaint filed by Kavita’s relatives, failed to produce this declaration at trial. The trial court consequently acquitted Prakash, prompting the state to appeal.
The division bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Ram Kumar Chaube criticized the prosecution for withholding the key dying declaration, calling it “intellectually dishonest” and noting that the state, as a party, must provide all evidence to enable the court to draw its own conclusions.
The judges observed, “We are dismayed after perusal of record how intellectually dishonest prosecution can be…The prosecutor is a ‘state’ and, therefore, it should be fair enough to produce all evidence collected during investigation and it should be left to the court to come to its own conclusion.”
The court found the appeal devoid of proper application of mind and confirmed the acquittal.
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