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Goutam Joardar v. The State of West Bengal

Criminal Appeal · 2021 INSC 625Decided 7 Oct 2021
Criminal Appeal No. 1181 of 2019
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice S. Ravindra Bhat · Justice Bela M. Trivedi

Background

The appellants were convicted of murdering a fish trader in West Bengal in 2011 after a prolonged pattern of intimidating local fish traders and an earlier confrontation where they looted a stall; the victim was later fatally assaulted and shot. The Sessions Court convicted them and sentenced them to life imprisonment, and the Calcutta High Court upheld the conviction. They appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that a delay in recording two eyewitnesses' statements under the Criminal Procedure Code was fatal to the prosecution's case.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals, affirming the conviction and sentence. It held that a delay in recording eyewitness statements does not by itself discredit their testimony, especially where the delay is explained by the witnesses' genuine fear of the accused, who had a documented history of terrorising the locality. The Court found the eyewitness accounts of PW18 and PW19 cogent, consistent, and trustworthy, and saw no reason to disturb the concurrent findings of the trial court and High Court.

Lesson Learnt

A delay by frightened eyewitnesses in coming forward to give statements to police does not automatically weaken their credibility in court, if the fear and intimidation behind the delay is established on the evidence.

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

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