The court said that the fact essential for the prosecution to prove was that the death of the child was due to the rash or negligent act of the accused. A Delhi court has acquitted a man who was facing trial in the death of his neighbour’s five-year-old son, allegedly electrocuted by a water cooler owned by the accused.
Metropolitan Magistrate Dev Chaudhary passed the judgment on March 31 saying “a child, who was without supervision, was left to roam by the guardians/parents”.
“Children of a young age are known to wander and explore all objects in the vicinity. In such a scenario, the only possibility that the child was electrocuted by the cooler of the accused is not the only conclusion possible,” the court said.
The incident took place on May 28, 2004, in southwest Delhi, when the child was allegedly electrocuted by the cooler of the accused Vinod Paswan. The boy’s father claimed that the cooler had a leakage and despite several warnings, the accused had not paid heed.
The accused was acquitted of causing death by negligence even though the court said that an electric inspector, who was a prosecution witness, had proved that the cooler had an electric leakage and another prosecution witness, a doctor who conducted the postmortem, affirmed that the death of the boy was due to electrocution.
The court said that the fact essential for the prosecution to prove was that the death of the child was due to the rash or negligent act of the accused.
Addressing the testimony of the doctor that death occurred on account of electrocution, the court said: “However, it is unproven as to how the child was electrocuted. There is no evidence to suggest that the death of the child was, in fact, caused by the cooler owned by the accused.”
The boy’s father testifying in court that his son was electrocuted by the cooler of the accused was hearsay and cannot be given weightage, the court said.
“The sole eye witness (father) has admitted that he is not a witness to the incident. Some of the surrounding circumstances have been proved. However, in view of the settled legal principles, they cannot be used to convict the accused, in the absence of the complete chain being proved cogently. Missing links in the chain of evidence could only benefit the accused. Even though a young life was extinguished under extremely unfortunate circumstances, the requisite criteria has not been met by the prosecution in the present matter,” the judgment read.
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