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Ashwani Kumar & Anr. v. The State of Punjab

Criminal Appeal · 2018 INSC 1111Decided 28 Nov 2018
Criminal Appeal No. 580 of 2010
Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi · Justice K.M. Joseph

Background

Police on patrol in 1998 heard shrieks from a locked room and allegedly witnessed, through gaps in the door, the first appellant's wife being murdered: held down and struck with a brick by the second appellant (a woman) while the first appellant stabbed her with a "khurpa" (a sickle-like tool), after which both appellants came out and declared they had "accomplished their job." The trial court convicted both appellants of murder, and the Punjab & Haryana High Court upheld the conviction and dismissed their appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The first appellant's defence (under Section 313 CrPC) was that he found his wife in a compromising position with another man and killed her in a sudden fit of rage upon provocation, while the second appellant claimed she was not even present (an alibi). The Supreme Court found no reason to disturb the concurrent findings of the trial court and High Court: there was no motive for the police witnesses to falsely implicate the appellants, the second appellant failed to prove her alibi, and the medical evidence (12 stab wounds plus lacerations, death by haemorrhage/shock) was consistent with the prosecution's version. The Court declined to rely on the defence witness's account or the first appellant's self-serving statement, and dismissed the appeal, affirming the murder conviction.

Lesson Learnt

In India's appellate criminal process, when two courts below (trial court and High Court) have given concurring factual findings based on credible witness and medical evidence, the Supreme Court will be very reluctant to overturn them absent a compelling legal or evidentiary flaw: a claim of sudden provocation or an unproven alibi will not by itself unsettle such concurrent findings.

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

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