Srinagar: The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday upheld the acquittal of Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, popularly known as Gulzar Peer, and three others in an alleged rape case registered over a decade ago in Budgam district.
The verdict marked the end of a prolonged legal battle that began with an FIR filed in 2013 at Khansahib Police Station.
A bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma dismissed the appeal filed by the erstwhile state of Jammu Kashmir, which had contested the acquittal decisions of both the Budgam Sessions Court and the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
In February 2015, the Sessions Court had acquitted the accused in Sessions Case No. 142/S, citing a lack of evidence. That decision was later upheld by the High Court in February 2017. Dissatisfied with these rulings, the State approached the Supreme Court with Criminal Appeal No. 1682 of 2017.
Represented by advocates Parth Awasthi and Pradeep Baisoya under AOR Pashupathi Nath Razdan, the State argued that the testimony of prosecution witnesses was consistent and sufficient to establish guilt.
However, senior advocate S Nagamuthu, representing the respondents, argued that the trial and appellate courts had acted in accordance with legal standards and that there was no ground for intervention by the apex court.
Justice Nagarathna, delivering the judgment, emphasized that appellate courts must exercise caution while overturning acquittals, particularly when no major inconsistencies or legal errors are found in previous verdicts. The court found no merit in the appeal and reiterated the principle of “double presumption of innocence” that favors acquitted individuals.
Quoting from previous rulings, including Yashwant and Others v. State of Maharashtra and Rajesh Prasad v. State of Bihar, the court reaffirmed the need for strong justification to reverse an acquittal.
In its concluding remarks, the bench stated: “The appellant-State has failed to make out a case for interference. There is no merit in this appeal.”
The ruling reinforces a fundamental tenet of Indian criminal law — that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, and once acquitted, the threshold to reverse that finding remains high.
