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Alauddin & Ors. vs. The State of Assam & Anr.

Not available · 2024 INSC 376Decided 3 May 2024
Not available
Justice Abhay S. Oka · Justice Ujjal Bhuyan

Background

The appellants (four of originally eight accused) were convicted under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC for the culpable homicide amounting to murder of one Sahabuddin Choudhury in February 2013. The prosecution's case was that one accused picked up the victim from his home in the afternoon and took him to a local market area, where he was later killed behind a school by being assaulted with a sharp weapon. The Trial Court convicted five of the eight accused (one died during trial), and the High Court upheld the conviction of four of them while acquitting one, relying heavily on the theory that the appellants were "last seen" with the victim shortly before his death.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court scrutinized the "last seen together" evidence and the reliability of the prosecution's so-called eyewitnesses. It found that the mere fact that one appellant was seen in the deceased's company hours before the killing was not, by itself, sufficient to link him, or the co-accused, to the actual commission of the murder, especially since the involvement of other, possibly untraced persons could not be ruled out. Concluding that the eyewitness testimony could not be relied upon and that the "last seen together" theory did not hold up, the Court held that the prosecution had failed to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt. It set aside the convictions of all four appellants under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC, acquitted them, and ordered their release unless required in connection with any other case.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction based on circumstantial evidence like "last seen together" cannot stand unless it forms a complete and unbroken chain pointing conclusively to the accused's guilt: mere proximity to the victim before death, without more, is not enough to prove murder.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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