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Bhaskarrao & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra

Criminal Appeal · 2018 INSC 419Decided 26 Apr 2018
Criminal Appeal No. 408 of 2014
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice S. Abdul Nazeer

Background

Sixteen villagers were accused of dragging a man named Shamrao out of his house after a quarrel over Rs. 50, assaulting him, and killing him by cutting off his hand in a field in Maharashtra in 1995. The trial court acquitted all the accused, finding the prosecution's evidence unreliable, but the Bombay High Court (Nagpur bench) reversed that acquittal and convicted them. The convicted persons then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found serious contradictions among the prosecution witnesses on basic facts such as the time of the incident and where the body was found, and noted the High Court had misstated the recorded time of occurrence while assessing visibility for identification. The Court held that an appellate court should not disturb a trial court's acquittal unless there are compelling reasons, and found none here, concluding the prosecution had failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. It allowed the appeals, set aside the High Court's conviction, and restored the trial court's order acquitting the accused.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction cannot rest on contradictory or inconsistent witness testimony about basic facts; when a trial court's well-reasoned acquittal is not shown to be perverse, a higher court should not casually overturn it.

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

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