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Dharma @ Dharam Singh & Anr. vs. State of Haryana

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 905Decided 5 Oct 2023
Criminal Appeal No. 421 of 2011
Abhay S. Oka · Pankaj Mithal

Background

In 1992, the accused were convicted of murdering the Sarpanch (village head) of their village and sentenced under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC. Their conviction was upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and they had already spent about eight years in custody before being released on bail by the Supreme Court in 2012 pending final hearing of their appeal. The prosecution's case rested mainly on two alleged eyewitnesses, one of whom turned hostile and did not support the prosecution at all.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court scrutinised the deposition of the sole surviving prosecution eyewitness and found, after examining the original trial court record itself, that this witness never actually identified the accused persons present in court as the men who committed the murder: a basic requirement for an eyewitness's testimony to establish guilt. Since the only other eyewitness had been declared hostile, there was no evidence properly linking the accused to the crime. The Court therefore quashed both the trial court's and the High Court's judgments and acquitted both appellants, cancelling their bail bonds since they were now free.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction cannot stand on the word of an eyewitness who never identifies the accused in court: mere assumptions that a witness "must have" recognised the accused are not a substitute for actual identification testimony on record.

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

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