The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973  - Section 378

Order of Acquittal - Interference - Only on the basis of appreciation of evidence - Appellant a acquittal set aside - Held, merely recording that judgment of Trial Court was perverse - Without dealing with facets of perversity relating to issue of law and/or appreciation of evidence - Illegal.

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The Indian Evidence Act, 1872  - Section 3

Eye-witness - Evidence - Whether a Police Officer can be a sole witness? - As per the rule a Police Officer can or cannot be sole eye-witness in criminal case - Statement of Police Officer as witness can be relied upon and even form basis of conviction when it is reliable, trustworthy cogent and duly corroborated by other witness and admissible evidences.

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The Indian Evidence Act, 1872  - Section 154

Hostile witness - Evidence - Court has to act with greater caution and accept such evidence with greater degree of care in order to ensure that justice alone is done - The part of the statement of such hostile witnesses that supperts the case of the prosecution can always be taken into consideration.

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Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 302

Murder - Evidence - Plaintiff witness, Police Officer stated to have seen three accused chasing and inflicting 10 knife injuries upon the deceased - No corroboration of Testimony of eye-witness by other evidence including medical evidence - Doctor who performed post-mortem not produced before Court - No examination of head constable who took deceased to Hospital - No person from FSL examined - Therefore Adverse inference can be drawn for not examining material witnesses - Recovery of weapon not made in conformity with provisions of law - Eye-witness did not try to trace accused with help of Constable/Head Constable who reached spot immediately - Evidence of eye-witness, not trustworthy - Setting aside acquittal of accused by High Court on presumption that "accused must have stabbed deceased" and there was possibility of another view" - Not sustainable - The prosecution must prove its case beyond any reasonable doubt - Burden is not upon the accused.

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The Indian Evidence Act, 1872  - Section 27

Recovery of weapon - If statement of witness, Police Officer is not reliable and not aspiring confidence - Then accused would be entitled to benefit of doubt.

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Criminal Laws  - Honour Killing

Honour Killing - Conviction of the appellant for commission of murder of his daughter - Appeal against - Motive of the appellant in murdering his daughter was that she was living in adultery with the son of the maternal aunt of the appellant, thus, to avenge the family honour he murdered his own daughter - Overwhelming circumstantial evidence to show that the accused committed the crime as he felt that he was dishonoured by his daughter - Prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt - Link evidence found complete - Supreme Court - Honour killings, for whatever reason, come within the category of rarest of rare cases deserving death punishment - Appeal dismissed.

Found In:  Judgement

Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 302

Murder - conviction and sentence - Whether the petitioner is guilty for commission of an offence under any of the parts of Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code and not under Section 302 thereof - Consider -Deceased was working in the house of the appellant as a maid - She was absent from her duties and the appellant went to her house, to call her to join her duties as a maid - An altercation followed and the appellant on the spur of the moment, went to the deceased and gagged her mouth - Appellant almost emptied the can of kerosene on the deceased and lit the match stick - Case related to circumstantial evidence - No inconsistency between the dying declarations of the deceased recorded at the interval of few hours on the day of the incident - Appellant had no pre-meditation to kill the deceased or cause any bodily harm or injury to the deceased - Everything happened on the spur of the moment - Fact that kerosene was sprinkled on the deceased by the appellant possibly cannot be disputed -Supreme Court - Held - Case falls under Section 304 Part II and the sentence which has already been undergone by the appellant is more than sufficient under Section 304 Part II, thus, directed the appellant to be released - Appeal allowed.

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Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 302 , Section 120-B

Murder and criminal conspiracy - Trial Court convicted - High Court acquittal - Appeal - FIR - Husband Chatra died after falling - Another complaint by PW.2 along with PW.1 - daughter of deceased aged about 8 years stating - Both respondents-accused had murdered Chatra - Deposition of a child witness may require corroboration - Case his deposition inspires confidence - No embellishment or improvement therein - Court may rely upon his evidence - Post mortem - Cause of death - `Asphyxia' as a result of throttling - Statement of PW-1/child witness - Affirmed by statements of other witnesses - Proved circumstances and medical evidence - Her deposition being precise, concise, specific and vivid without any improvement or embroidery is worth acceptance in toto - Judgment of High Court set aside - Order of trial Court restored - appeal allowed.

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Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 302 , Section 34 , Section 120-B , Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987  - Section 3

Confession - Bombay Bomb Blasts Case - Conviction under - Appeal against - Admissibility of confession against co-accused not charged under the TADA Act - -Main accused entered into criminal conspiracy to kill the deceased so that their involvement in the Bombay Bomb Blasts not revealed - When independent evidence supports the confessional statement, there is no harm in relying upon the confession - Merely because the confessional statement of both the accused is more or less similar, it cannot vitiate the probative value of such confessional statement - The confessional statement made by a person under Section 15 shall be admissible in the trial of a co-accused for offence committed and tried in the same case together with the accused who makes the confession - Evidence on record presents an unimpeachable evidence against the accused, clearly indicating the modus operandi and the motive - Designated Judge (TADA) justified in convicting and sentencing co accused for the offences under Section 302/34 IPC - Intention of the accused was not to cause terror but to prevent information regarding another crime from being divulged - TADA Court justified in dismissing the charges framed under the TADA Act - Appeals dismissed.

Found In:  Judgement

Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 302 , Section 34

Murder - Common intention - Conviction - Murder of deceased by the accused by shot fire - FIR lodged within 20-25 minutes of the communication of incident - No delay in lodging FIR - Specific names of the accused mentioned in the FIR - Statement of eye witness PW-11 who was at the scene of occurrence - Evidence of PW-11 clearly nails A-2 and A-3 for the murder of deceased - Evidence of PW11 corroborated with evidence of PW-5 and PW-24 - Evidence of PW-11 duly corroborated by medical and other evidence - Conviction of A-2 and A-3 under section 302 r/w section 34 - Upheld - Appeal dismissed.

Found In:  Judgement