The Chhattisgarh High Court has overturned the conviction of Prasen Kumar Bhargav, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the alleged abduction and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl in 2019. A division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bibhu Datta Guru delivered the ruling on 20 November 2025, holding that the prosecution failed to establish the identity of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
Bhargav had been convicted by a Special POCSO Court in Baloda Bazar in July 2022 for offences under the IPC and POCSO Act, including aggravated penetrative sexual assault. The trial court relied largely on the minor’s identification of Bhargav and the recovery of a vehicle allegedly linked to him. The High Court, however, found major gaps in the evidence.
The bench noted that the Test Identification Parade (TIP) was conducted at an irrigation department rest house rather than a jail or police station, and that Bhargav had been shown to the victim before the TIP. The court held that this violated established safeguards and rendered the identification unreliable. It stressed that where identification is doubtful, a TIP cannot be treated as corroborative evidence. 906
The judges also found no forensic link tying Bhargav to the assault. The medical and FSL reports, though confirming that the child had been sexually assaulted, did not connect the biological material to the accused. The prosecution’s case involving CCTV footage and call detail records also collapsed because the chain of custody was incomplete and no admissible electronic evidence was produced.
The court pointed to contradictions in witness testimony, missing independent witnesses, and major lapses in investigation. It held that while the assault was clearly proven, the evidence did not conclusively prove that Bhargav was the perpetrator. Restating the principle that suspicion cannot replace proof, the bench acquitted him and ordered his immediate release.
