The Supreme Court has canceled the conviction and life imprisonment of the accused stepfather in the case of murder of a six-year-old girl. The court canceled the sentence on the basis of irregularities in the investigation. During the hearing on Tuesday (February 17, 2026), the court also said that the prosecution failed to establish the entire chain of circumstantial evidence.
The bench comprising Justices K Vinod Chandran and Sanjay Kumar praised advocate Ankita Sharma, representing the prosecution, for her meticulous preparation and for prosecuting the case efficiently and enthusiastically despite major hurdles in the investigation. However, the Supreme Court has strongly criticized Chhattisgarh Police’s botched investigation, which left many questions unanswered in the murder case of a six-year-old girl, where the real culprit went unpunished and her stepfather was jailed on mere speculations.
Justice K Vinod Chandran, who wrote the judgment, said, ‘We are surprised that if the investigation had been done with even half the level of preparation of the lawyer, the mystery of the disappearance and death of that poor girl could have been solved. We also appreciate the efforts of the senior counsel for the appellant in effectively highlighting the poor conduct of the investigation.
The judgment accepted the appeal of accused Rohit Jangde, who was convicted by a lower court in Chhattisgarh. The High Court had also upheld the decision of the lower court. This case is of October 2018 in Kabirdham district of Chhattisgarh. According to the prosecution, there was a fight between Rohit Jangde and his second wife on October 5, 2018. After this the wife went to her parents’ house. The allegation was that Jangde took away his step daughter on a motorcycle. The girl went missing, but a formal complaint was lodged on 11 October and Rohit Jangde was arrested on 13 October.
