HC grants bail in rape-murder case with ‘heavy heart’, seeks upgrade of UP forensic labs

Prayagraj: While granting bail to an accused in a rape and murder case, the Allahabad high court said it was doing so with a “heavy heart and great pain” due to the absence of reliable scientific evidence linking the accused to the crime. The court also voiced serious concern over the inadequate infrastructure and functioning of Forensic Science Laboratories (FSLs) in Uttar Pradesh.Expressing hope that the state govt will provide high-end machines to FSL as well as sufficient staff, the court directed the registrar (compliance) to send a copy of this order to the UP chief secretary for the perusal of the chief minister.While granting bail to accused Manoj on May 21, a bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal said, “Outdated machine as well as incomplete infrastructure in FSL is the main reason for non-generation of DNA profile and no one can be blamed except the state govt, which has many other issues to consider, apart from the issue of providing basic infrastructure to FSL.”According to the prosecution, the deceased woman was allegedly raped and murdered. While the initial FIR was lodged against unknown persons, Manoj was later implicated based on the delayed statement of an alleged eyewitness.The defence, however, contended that the mere recovery of the victim’s watch from an open field, allegedly upon the applicant’s pointing out, could not be treated as conclusive evidence against him.Furthermore, it was argued that the delayed recording of the eyewitness’s statement created significant doubt over the prosecution’s story. It was also submitted that even as per the FSL report, the DNA of the applicant did not match the DNA found in the vaginal smear of the deceased. Hence, it was requested to the court that the accused be granted bail, as he had been falsely implicated in this case.Though the court ultimately granted bail in this case, it pointed out that it was constrained to do so “for the reason that the FSL report does not show that the DNA found in the vaginal smear of the deceased belongs to the applicant because of insufficient generation of the DNA profile”.The court termed this as the “biggest anomaly in investigation as well as an incomplete facility in the FSL.” It further noted that this recurring pattern was emerging frequently.In this context, Justice Deshwal observed that the court had encountered numerous cases, particularly those involving allegations of rape followed by the victim’s murder, where crucial forensic evidence failed to yield conclusive results.“The court has come across several such cases where vaginal swabs and DNA samples of the accused were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). However, in a majority of these cases, the FSL reports indicate that the source of the DNA found in the vaginal swab could not be determined because a complete DNA profile could not be generated,” the judge noted.Furthermore, the court referred to its recent order in Mevalal Prajapati vs state of UP 2026, wherein it was apprised by the director of UP FSL that most of the FSLs in the state are facing problems of vacancy, as well as a lack of high-end machines, which could not generate DNA profiles properly.