Brief Facts
- The Appellant was convicted by the District & Sessions Judge, Sawai Madhopur in Sessions Case No.128/2014 for offences under Sections 364, 394 and 302 IPC and sentenced to life imprisonment along with other sentences.
- The prosecution case was that the deceased Kamli was last seen going with the appellant on 08.05.2014; her skeletal remains were later recovered at the instance of the appellant; a knife and silver anklets (kadiya) allegedly belonging to the deceased were also recovered; and DNA matched the remains with the deceased’s sister. The conviction was based on circumstantial evidence.
- Aggrieved, the Appellant preferred the present appeal.
Issues
- Whether the prosecution had established a complete and unbroken chain of circumstances sufficient to sustain conviction on circumstantial evidence?
- Whether the recoveries, last-seen evidence, and identification of articles conclusively proved the guilt of the appellant beyond reasonable doubt?
Held
- he Division Bench while applying the law laid down in Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v. State of Maharashtra (1984) 4 SCC 116, Padman Bibhar v. State of Odisha [2025 INSC 751], Vinod v. State of Madhya Pradesh (2015) 15 SCC 722 and Bakhshish Singh v. State of Punjab, 1971 (3) SCC 182, allowed the appeal and quashed and set aside the conviction judgment passed against the Appellant. The findings of the court are as under:
- The case of the prosecution based upon circumstantial evidence is dented by following missing links thereby leaving the chain incomplete; (i) recovery of the knife at the instance of the appellant from an open space had not enhance the case of the prosecution and there were no blood stains on the knife; no fingerprints were taken and in absence of determination of cause of death there was no link of the knife being used in the incident;(ii) the kadiya recovered concealed in the floor of the room of the appellant were easily available in the market as per deposition ofPW-2 and PW-4. Further PW-4 in cross-examination admitted that the kadiya at the first instance was shown to him in the police station prior to identification; (iii) the blood smeared clothes recovered from the spot of recovery of the skeleton of the deceased were not sent for FSL and there was no proof that the clothes having human blood stains or that of the deceased. The recovery of the blood smeared clothes is of no help to the case of the prosecution; (iv) the evidence of last seen set up by the prosecution remained uncorroborated with other evidence and there was a time gap of thirty five days between the appellant being last seen with the deceased and recovery of the skeleton and lastly; (v) recovery of the skeleton of the deceased does not prove the case of the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt, moreso, in absence of the cause of death having not been determined in the post-mortem report.
- The recoveries made at the instance of the appellant and the identification of the appellant having been last seen with the deceased thirty-five days prior to recovery of the skeleton does not prove the case of the prosecution to the hilt. The appellant is given benefit of doubt and is acquitted.
Relevant Para No.
- 14,15,16,19,20 and 21