Jaipur: Rajasthan High Court has upheld the acquittal of a woman accused of killing her mother-in-law. The court ruled that the ‘prosecution failed to establish her guilt beyond reasonable doubt’ and that the ‘trial court’s decision contained no legal or factual error’.A division bench of Justices Mahendar Kumar Goyal and Bhuwan Goyal passed the order on Oct 7 while dismissing an appeal filed by Bhanwarlal, husband of the deceased, against the acquittal of his daughter-in-law, Reena Sharma, by a Jaipur trial court on May 18, 2026.Advocate Prahlad Sharma, appearing for the appellant, argued that the prosecution evidence established that Reena assaulted her mother-in-law, Munni Devi, with a rolling pin, causing her head to strike a wall and resulting in her death. He contended that the trial court had wrongly appreciated the evidence and extended the benefit of doubt to the accused, and sought reversal of the acquittal.According to the prosecution, Munni Devi was found dead at a flat in Harmada area on Jan 27, 2020. The complaint alleged that she had sustained multiple injuries in an assault. An FIR was registered, and Reena was chargesheeted for murder.However, the high court found several gaps in the circumstantial evidence. It noted that there was no eyewitness to the alleged murder and the prosecution had failed to conclusively establish Reena’s presence with Munni Devi at the relevant time.The bench also found that the CCTV footage relied upon by the prosecution had not been properly authenticated, as the relevant witnesses and the person who transferred it to a pen drive had not adequately established its authenticity.Further, the postmortem report did not record the alleged head injuries attributed to Munni Devi striking a wall. The court also questioned the recovery of the rolling pin and scissors, noting that fingerprints had not been lifted and the circumstances of the recovery were not convincingly established.Finding no grounds for interference, the bench dismissed the appeal and upheld Reena’s acquittal.
