The High Court of Chhattisgarh, while upholding the life sentence for a man convicted of a minor’s murder, has strongly observed that a trial court cannot ignore “overwhelming evidence” of sexual assault and convict an accused solely for the homicidal act.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bibhu Datta Guru stated that a judgment must “record the conviction for all offences established by evidence,” and found that the trial court’s failure to convict on rape and POCSO charges in this case “reflects a misappreciation of the evidence.”

The Court made these observations while dismissing a criminal appeal (CRA No. 143 of 2025), confirming the appellant’s conviction for the 2022 murder (Section 302, IPC) and destruction of evidence (Section 201, IPC) of a 12-

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