{ "record_id": "CW-2026-0049", "status": "current", "merged_id": "CWC-1160", "alias_merged_ids": [], "display_title": "Serampore Man v. State of West Bengal and Anr.", "display_title_redacted": "Serampore Man v. State of West Bengal and Anr.", "state": "West Bengal", "district": "Hooghly", "district_at_time": null, "city_town": "Serampore", "police_station_or_unit": "Serampore Women Police Station", "court": "Calcutta High Court", "court_as_verified": "Calcutta High Court", "bench": null, "case_title": "Serampore Man v. State of West Bengal and Anr.", "case_number": "CRA (DB) No. 25 of 2025", "citation": "2026:CHC-AS:811-DB", "judges": [ "Arijit Banerjee", "Apurba Sinha Ray" ], "judgment_date": "2026-05-22", "date_precision": "day", "judgment_year": 2026, "incident_date": "2022-03-23", "incident_year": 2022, "category": "Other", "admin_category": "misconduct", "admin_subcategory": "dereliction_evidence_tampering", "subcategory": "dereliction_evidence_tampering", "subcategory_display": "dereliction evidence tampering", "protest_override_heuristic": false, "outcome_type": "adverse_finding_compensation", "sections": [ "IPC 376(2)(f)", "IPC 328", "IPC 506", "POCSO Act 2012 s.6" ], "officers": [ { "name": null, "rank": "Sub-Inspector", "role": "held_liable", "unit": "Serampore Women Police Station", "publish_grade": "unnamed", "gate_reasons": [ "ledger:no_row", "key2:no_row" ], "ledger_role": null, "key2": null, "key2_agy": null, "key2_claude": null, "key2_union": null, "key2_gemapi": null, "key2_openrouter": null, "key2_gpt56": null, "grok": null, "jev_risk": null, "jev_p_culpable": null, "key2_gpt": null, "later_outcome": null, "name_public": null, "display": "Sub-Inspector, Serampore Women Police Station" } ], "officer_count": 1, "victims": [ { "name": null, "age": null, "gender": "male", "descriptor": "Serampore man" } ], "victims_redacted": null, "anonymised": false, "victim_count": 1, "sentence_type": "compensation_only", "sentence_max_years": null, "compensation_inr": 1000000, "force": "state_police", "primary_source_url": "https://www.verdictum.in/pdf_upload/2026/05/25/display-6watermark-1778205.pdf", "secondary_sources": [ "https://www.verdictum.in/calcutta-high-court/pratap-digal-v-state-of-west-bengal-2026chc-as811-db-reverse-burden-us-29-pocso-act-interested-1614641" ], "summary": "Professor a Serampore man was convicted by the Serampore trial court in July 2024 in Women PS Case No. 12 of 2022 and spent over four years in custody. The Calcutta High Court held the investigation by S.[name withheld] was perfunctory and biased: a vaginal swab was never sent for forensic examination, neutral residents were ignored, and key witnesses were omitted from the chargesheet. The Court set aside the conviction, acquitted the appellant, and held his prolonged deprivation of liberty was directly precipitated by the IO's gross incompetence. It ordered Rs. 10 lakh compensation within three months, recoverable from the delinquent officials, and directed the DGP to consider disciplinary proceedings against the IO. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.", "summary_verified": "Professor a Serampore man was convicted by the Serampore trial court in July 2024 in Women PS Case No. 12 of 2022 and spent over four years in custody. The Calcutta High Court held the investigation by S.[name withheld] was perfunctory and biased: a vaginal swab was never sent for forensic examination, neutral residents were ignored, and key witnesses were omitted from the chargesheet. The Court set aside the conviction, acquitted the appellant, and held his prolonged deprivation of liberty was directly precipitated by the IO's gross incompetence. It ordered Rs. 10 lakh compensation within three months, recoverable from the delinquent officials, and directed the DGP to consider disciplinary proceedings against the IO.", "court_quote": "The Investigating Officer (IO) failed to take even rudimentary steps to verify the allegations against Professor a Serampore man", "court_quote_para": "60", "confidence": "high", "verdict": "accept", "verdict_note": "Primary HC PDF verified; conviction set aside, Rs.10L compensation for IO-caused wrongful incarceration.", "verification_status": "V2", "verification_badge": "V2 · Externally reported", "tier_badge": "Externally reported", "tier": "Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded", "tier_history": [ "Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded" ], "allegations": [ { "category": "Other", "primary": true, "position": "Material fact supported", "position_explainer": "Reliable material supports a specifically documented fact relevant to that allegation, not necessarily the full allegation, causation, intent, unlawfulness, or responsibility.", "official_finding_relation": "supports allegation" } ], "institutional_response": [ { "date": "2026-05-22", "action_type": "Order issued", "status": "Concluded", "authority": "Calcutta High Court", "independence": "External", "legal_effect": "Binding", "description": "The Calcutta High Court recorded adverse findings against police personnel and ordered Rs 1,000,000.", "disposition": "Compensation ordered · Supports allegation (for the compensated wrong only)", "source": "2026:CHC-AS:811-DB", "recheck": "Not yet re-checked." } ], "later_proceedings": [], "final_outcome_url": null, "followup_history": [ { "date": "2026-09-19", "scope": "Round-8 full re-verification: published record re-checked against the judgment text (outcome, officers, quote, key facts) plus methodology-compliance pass", "method": "skills-guided adversarial re-verification of the published record against the judgment text (reverify/t1-*/adversarial-8.jsonl)", "result": "holds", "corrections_applied": [] } ], "followup_status": "checked", "last_checked": "2026-09-19", "link_checked_per_url": [ { "url": "https://www.verdictum.in/pdf_upload/2026/05/25/display-6watermark-1778205.pdf", "link_checked": null }, { "url": "https://www.verdictum.in/calcutta-high-court/pratap-digal-v-state-of-west-bengal-2026chc-as811-db-reverse-burden-us-29-pocso-act-interested-1614641", "link_checked": null } ], "source_assessment": { "established": null, "basis": null }, "v3_basis": null, "publication_basis": null, "reviews": [], "retracted": { "is_retracted": false }, "fidelity_checked": true, "verified_by": [ "chunk-105" ], "merged_case_id": "GAP3-36-001", "officers_named_public": 0, "record_flag": null, "service": "police", "watch": "babuwatch" }