Shillong, August 5: The Meghalaya High Court has acquitted a woman who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the alleged murder of her husband, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence linking her to the crime.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice W. Diengdoh allowed the criminal appeal filed by Jenorin D. Sangma, setting aside the judgment of conviction and sentence passed by the Sessions Judge, Ri-Bhoi District, in February 2020. The judgment was pronounced on August 4, 2026.
According to the prosecution, Jenorin Sangma had murdered her husband, Dhantharu Mushahary, in 2015 and allegedly buried his body in Chibra village. The case surfaced in 2017 after the village headman informed police that the woman had allegedly confessed to the crime, leading to her arrest and subsequent trial.
While examining the appeal, the High Court observed that the case rested entirely on circumstantial evidence, including an alleged extra-judicial confession, a co-accused’s statement under Section 164 of the CrPC, and the alleged recovery of the deceased’s body at the appellant’s instance.
The Bench found significant shortcomings in the prosecution’s case. It noted that the first informant had turned hostile during trial, the co-accused’s confession did not implicate the appellant, and the alleged recovery of the body was not carried out in accordance with the legal procedure prescribed under Section 27 of the Evidence Act. The Court also pointed out that no DNA report was produced to establish that the exhumed body was that of the appellant’s husband.
The High Court further observed that the prosecution had failed to investigate the role of four unidentified persons who, according to the co-accused’s statement, were allegedly present near the deceased’s body before it was buried.
Holding that the prosecution had failed to prove the appellant’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt or establish a complete chain of circumstances pointing exclusively to her involvement, the Court allowed the appeal and quashed both the conviction and the life sentence imposed by the trial court.
