Brief Facts
- The incident occurred on 08.06.2007 around 8:45 PM in front of Machchu Hotel near Shukla Hotel, Jabalpur, where one Pappu alias Rajendra Yadav was allegedly assaulted and killed when he was coming out of the hotel with his friends Virendra and Amit Jha. Four persons were accused of assaulting the deceased with knife and other weapons such as sickle and kesia.
- Information about the incident was given by Virendra Kumar (PW-1) at about 9:00 PM to the brother of the deceased, Rajkumar Yadav, and his mother Usha Rani Yadav. The family members rushed to the scene and found the deceased lying in a pool of blood. They took him to Police Station Ghamapur, lodged an FIR at 9:30 PM, and then took him to Victoria Hospital, Jabalpur, where he was declared dead.
- The prosecution case relied primarily on an oral dying declaration allegedly made by the deceased to his brother and mother, and testimony of an alleged eyewitness, Rahul Yadav (PW-13) and PW-1.
- All four accused were convicted to life imprisonment under Section 302 r/w 34 IPC with a fine of Rs. 5,000/- each by the Sessions Judge, Jabalpur on 15.09.2008.
- The High Court upheld the conviction and sentence by dismissing the appeals of all the accused.
- During the pendency of the appeal before the Supreme Court, one of the appellants, Manja @ Amit Mishra, died.
Issues
- Whether the prosecution proved the case against the appellants beyond reasonable doubt based on the oral dying declaration and the testimony of the alleged eyewitness.
- Whether the courts below erred in not extending the benefit of doubt to the appellants despite inconsistencies in the evidence?
Held
- Supreme Court acquitted the accused person and quashed the judgments of Subordinate Court.
- The Supreme Court found that the testimony of Rahul Yadav (PW-13) was doubtful as he was a relative of the deceased with a criminal background, had been absconding for 7 months, and his presence at the scene was not mentioned by other witnesses or in the FIR. The two friends of the deceased who were specifically mentioned in the FIR as eyewitnesses (Virendra (PW-1) and Amit Jha (PW-12)) were declared hostile and did not support the prosecution case.
- Regarding the oral dying declaration, the Court observed that given the nature and severity of the injuries sustained by the deceased (punctured lung, heart injury), he would have died within 5-10 minutes of receiving such injuries according to medical evidence. Considering the time it would have taken for the information to reach the family and for them to arrive at the scene (15-25 minutes), the deceased could not have survived to make any declaration.
- The Court held that there was no specific evidence to establish that the deceased was alive or in a position to speak when his brother and mother reached the spot, and the dying declaration was not corroborated by any other cogent evidence.
- While acknowledging that appellate courts should be slow in interfering with convictions recorded by lower courts, the Supreme Court observed that where the evidence indicates the prosecution has failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the benefit of doubt should be extended to the accused.
Relevant Paras
- 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 18