Supreme Court Opens Review of Patna High Court Acquittal

The Supreme Court has initiated suo motu proceedings over a Patna High Court judgment that acquitted a man convicted in a case involving allegations of sexual assault, saying it would examine observations in the ruling that the bench described as offending. The court issued notice and said it would hear the acquitted man before deciding whether to set aside any part of the High Court’s reasoning. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, sitting with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, directed Bihar’s Advocate General to arrange service of the notice through local police. The Supreme Court has not ruled on the High Court’s observations or changed the acquittal. The next step will depend on the accused being heard; the reports do not specify a date for that hearing. The proceedings concern a July 9 Patna High Court judgment in the appeal of Himanshu Kumar Pathak, who had been convicted by a trial court in connection with a 2008 case in Amarpur, Bihar. The trial court had sentenced him to three years in prison under Indian Penal Code Section 376/511 and six months under Section 342, with the terms to run concurrently.