Forensic Failure? Woman Found Alive After Man Spends Years in Jail
BACKGROUND OF CASE:
Suresh, a labourer from the tribal community of Kodagu district reported that his wife was missing in December 2020. Around the same time when he filed the case, police discovered a woman's skeletal remains near Bettadapura in Periyapatna taluk, Mysuru district. Despite of lacking proper evidence, they said that the body found was identified as the body of his wife, Mallige. During investigation, Suresh who himself filed the complaint of his missing wife was allegedly forced to confess that the crime was done by him. Suresh was basically staged by the police and the police filed the charge sheet without waiting for the DNA results. the police had ignored the scientific evidences that had to be awaited and continued treating her as dead. Suresh was accused and was put behind bars because he couldn’t afford for ₹1 lakh bail helplessly, and his case was treated as closed.
DISCOVERY OF THE TRUTH: THE COURTROOM SHOCK
In April 2025, Mallige (who was declared dead) was spotted alive in Madikeri, living with another man. This came as a shocking news to everyone and raised questions on the police’s inappropriate investigations. According to reports the accused Suresh suffered erroneous interrogations and was in judicial custody for one and a half years. But contradictingly Suresh though he knew about wife’s extra marietal affair he never mentioned about neither during his investigation nor when he was in the judicial custody.
When his wife, mallige was found in the hotel, photos and videos were sent to the police only after which they believed Suresh and his wife was taken into custody and the investigation began again. After which she was produced in the sessions court of Mysuru, her presence shattered the entire foundation of the murder case and seeing her very much alive questioned the judicial system of India. According to reports, wife said that she was unaware of the case or about Suresh who was in jail for about one and half years.
KEY FORENSIC TAKEWAWAYS:
DNA profiling, the most powerful tool in forensic science and in investigations did its work and also proved that the skeletal remains that was found in 2020 did not belong to Mallige, even after which the police had ignored this fact. Instead of following the science, the investigators relied on assumptions, pressure to close the case, and perhaps bias against a tribal man with limited resources.
NECESSARY LEGAL REFORMATIONS:
Suresh’s case is an edging stone as it’s a lesson for the Indian judicial system on criminal judiciary. No unidentified body be conclusively declared as a specific person without forensic confirmation and no arrest or conviction proceed in the absence of that match, then Suresh might never have been arrested, let alone imprisoned. This requires a law or judicial mandate imposing obligatory DNA-based identification prior to the declaration of death for a "missing person" or the filing of a charge of murder based on unidentified remains.
CONCLUSION:
Suresh didn't lose three years—he lost birthdays, harvests, laughs, hopes, and the right to be a son and a father. His children grew up in poverty, his mother grew old in grief, and the woman he was blamed for murdering lived the entire time. This is not just an error. This is a reflection held up against our justice system. We have the technology—DNA, forensics, science. What we're missing is the empathy to apply them with justice and the fortitude to say when the system fails. That's what these reforms are all about. They're not simply legal enhancements—they're moral responsibilities.
REFERENCES:
Author : Chaitra G.
Media Team: Budding Forensic Expert
