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Ashok Upadhyay & Anr. v. The State of Bihar

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 971Decided 8 Sept 2026
Criminal Appeal No. 1223 of 2022
Justice J.B. Pardiwala · Justice K. Vinod Chandran

Background

A quarrel broke out between two families over waterlogging caused by a blocked drain, during which one family member was shot dead and others were injured. Of five accused, three were acquitted and two (the present appellants) were convicted of murder and related offences by the trial court, a conviction later upheld by the Patna High Court. The appellants challenged this conviction before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found serious inconsistencies undermining the prosecution's case: the body was mysteriously taken to the police station instead of a hospital despite medical evidence that the victim could have survived for 3-6 hours after being shot; no scene-of-crime investigation, weapon recovery, or map was prepared; and the eyewitnesses were almost entirely close relatives whose testimony contained material contradictions with their earlier police statements. A defence witness's account of seeing armed men over the body, combined with these gaps, raised a reasonable hypothesis of innocence. The Court held that related witnesses are not automatically unreliable, but where their testimony shows a "ring of falsity," closer scrutiny is warranted, and here the doubts were substantial enough to undermine the conviction.

Lesson Learnt

A criminal conviction cannot stand merely because eyewitnesses are related to the victim. Courts must closely scrutinise such testimony against surrounding facts, and gaps in basic police investigation (like failing to seize weapons or map the crime scene) can create reasonable doubt that entitles an accused to acquittal.

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

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