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Indira Devi and Ors. v. State of Himachal Pradesh

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 524 of 2016)Decided 3 Jun 2016
Criminal Appeal No. 524 of 2016
Justice Dipak Misra · Justice Shiva Kirti Singh

Background

Three women (the appellants) were convicted along with two male relatives for an assault arising from a land/property dispute between brothers in Himachal Pradesh, after the victim alleged in an FIR and later court testimony that all five accused attacked him, causing a gunshot wound and other injuries. The trial court convicted all five and sentenced the women to five years' rigorous imprisonment under Section 307 read with Section 149 IPC, treating them as sharing a "common object" with the two male attackers; the High Court affirmed this on appeal. The women argued that the FIR originally assigned no specific role to them, that allegations against them emerged only later in the victim's court testimony as "improvements," and that the medical evidence did not support the specific injuries attributed to them.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the trial court and High Court had erred by uncritically relying on the victim's testimony without scrutinizing clear contradictions between his initial FIR (which named only the two male accused for specific acts) and his later, more elaborate court deposition implicating the women. The Court examined the medical evidence and found no injury corroborating the specific assault allegedly committed by the women, concluding that the allegations against them appeared to be later embellishments arising from the underlying family land dispute. Applying the principle that even an injured witness's testimony must be carefully scrutinized where there is a risk of false implication due to enmity, the Court held the women's conviction was unsustainable, set aside their conviction and sentence, and acquitted them of all charges by extending the benefit of doubt.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction based on "common object" liability under Section 149 IPC cannot rest on vague, later-added allegations against some accused when the original FIR assigned them no specific role and the medical evidence does not corroborate the claimed assault: courts must carefully weigh contradictions between an FIR and subsequent testimony, especially where a family dispute could motivate exaggeration.

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

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