Avtar Singh vs The State of Punjab
Background
A woman alleged that she was abducted while going to relieve herself in a field, drugged, and repeatedly raped over three days by three men (one of whom, Gian Singh, was acquitted at trial) in a room inside an under-construction building and later in an open field. The two remaining accused, Avtar Singh and Sohan Lal, were convicted by the trial court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, and they appealed to the Supreme Court.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court found the prosecution's story riddled with serious inconsistencies, including that the building where the victim was allegedly held captive for two days was under active construction with labourers working throughout, yet she never raised an alarm; that her medical examination showed no injuries despite her claim of repeated forcible rape over multiple days; and that key evidence (like handing over of clothing samples) was contradicted between the victim and her mother's testimony. Since the trial court itself had already disbelieved the identical core story regarding the acquitted co-accused (Gian Singh), the Court held this broke the chain of the prosecution's narrative and that the same doubt must extend to the remaining accused. Finding the findings of the lower courts "completely perverse," the Supreme Court allowed the appeal and acquitted both appellants.
Lesson Learnt
A criminal conviction cannot stand on a prosecution story that has already been disbelieved in part (as to one co-accused) while still being accepted as to the others on the very same facts; courts must test the internal consistency of the entire narrative, including corroborating medical and circumstantial evidence, before upholding a conviction.