In Brief
A young woman was allegedly gang-raped on 13 November 2012, became semi-conscious after being forcibly given an intoxicant, and later committed suicide on 26 December 2012, leaving a note naming the accused. The investigating officer (Nasib Singh) was acquitted by the trial court in both cases (gang rape and abetment of suicide) based on lack of evidence of tainted investigation. The High Court ordered a retrial after clubbing the two FIRs, reasoning that separate trials caused potential miscarriage of justice. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that retrial is exceptional and available only when the original trial lacked jurisdiction, was vitiated by serious illegality, or the prosecution was disabled. Separate trials are lawful unless they demonstrably caused failure of justice—which the High Court merely speculated about. Moreover, key witnesses had died, and retrying after 7 years would not serve justice in this heinous crime.
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