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Dibaker Nunia & Anr. vs The State of Assam

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 886Decided 30 Aug 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 962 of 2011
Dinesh Maheshwari · Bela M. Trivedi

Background

The appellants were convicted of murder by a Sessions Court in Assam and their conviction was upheld by the Gauhati High Court, based mainly on the eyewitness testimony of the deceased's parents, who claimed to have seen the assault. Several other prosecution witnesses, projected as independent eyewitnesses, did not support the prosecution's version at all. The parents' account included the claim that, after allegedly witnessing their son being fatally assaulted and covered in blood, they went home, ate a meal, and went to sleep without seeking help: conduct the High Court itself called "unreasonable" but excused on the theory that the deceased was known to be a habitual troublemaker.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that while courts are normally reluctant to re-examine concurrent findings of fact by a trial court and a High Court, interference is justified where the reasoning is so flawed that it results in a miscarriage of justice. It found the parents' conduct after allegedly witnessing the assault (going home, eating, and sleeping instead of raising alarm or seeking medical help for their son) to be fundamentally incompatible with genuine eyewitness experience, and held that the High Court's explanation for this behavior did not hold up. Since no other independent witness supported the prosecution's case, and the doubt on the reliability of the sole eyewitness testimony was reasonable (not merely speculative), the benefit of that doubt had to go to the accused. The Court set aside both lower court judgments, acquitted the appellants, and ordered their immediate release if still in custody.

Lesson Learnt

A criminal conviction cannot stand on eyewitness testimony that is inherently improbable or inconsistent with normal human conduct in the circumstances described. Courts must critically test witness credibility rather than accept it merely because there is no proven motive to lie, and any resulting reasonable doubt must benefit the accused.

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

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