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Dev Karan @ Lambu v. State of Haryana

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 865Decided 6 Aug 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 299 of 2010
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul · Justice K.M. Joseph

Background

In 1994, Jaibir @ Gabbu was killed in his under-construction house in Bhiwani, Haryana, after a group of seven men, armed with weapons including a wooden rafter, lathis and a sword, attacked him and his friends following an earlier altercation at a liquor shop. Several accused, including the appellant Dev Karan (accused No. 5), were convicted by the trial court and the conviction was upheld through appeals; this decision disposed of four connected criminal appeals (Crl.A. Nos. 299, 300, 302, and 1139 of 2010) filed by different convicted accused.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed all four appeals and upheld the convictions. It rejected the appellants' argument of mistaken identity, noting that eyewitnesses who knew the accused personally had consistently identified them (including by an alias), and that the accused had been arrested promptly, with a weapon recovered pursuant to one accused's own disclosure statement. The Court held that minor inconsistencies in eyewitness accounts of a violent, fast-moving group attack are natural and do not undermine the broader consistency of the prosecution's case, and the trial court's view on the collective nature of the attack was sound. The accused were directed to surrender within fifteen days to serve their remaining sentences.

Lesson Learnt

In a chaotic group attack, courts do not expect eyewitnesses to recall every detail with pinpoint precision: broad consistency among witnesses who knew the accused is enough to sustain identification and conviction, even if minor details vary between testimonies.

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

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