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Balwan Singh v. The State of Chhattisgarh

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 862Decided 6 Aug 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 727 of 2015
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar · Justice Ajay Rastogi

Background

The appellants were convicted by the Trial Court and the Chhattisgarh High Court for the 2007 murder of one Pitambar Singh, based on the testimony of two alleged eyewitnesses and two other witnesses who claimed to have overheard the accused planning the killing, along with recovery of bloodstained weapons. The accused were, however, acquitted of the separate conspiracy charge by both lower courts.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found the prosecution's case riddled with serious, unexplained flaws: the two "eyewitnesses" gave statements only eight days after the murder despite one of them (the village Patel) admittedly being present with the investigating officer on day one, and their claimed meeting and movements that night were found implausible. The forensic report on the recovered bloodstained weapons could not even confirm the blood was of human origin, let alone matching the victim's blood group: a gap the Court held could not be excused given the already-shaky eyewitness account. Since the conspiracy charge had already failed in the lower courts, no credible basis remained to explain why the accused had supposedly gathered to commit the crime. The Court allowed the appeals, set aside the convictions, and, recognizing that the same unreliable evidence had been used against all co-accused, extended the acquittal even to co-accused who had not filed their own appeals.

Lesson Learnt

A criminal conviction cannot stand on eyewitness testimony marked by unexplained delay and inherent improbability, combined with physical evidence (like bloodstains) that was never scientifically confirmed, and when such defective evidence taints a joint trial, courts can extend the benefit of acquittal even to co-accused who never appealed.

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

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