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Kalabhai Hamirbhai Kachhot v. The State of Gujarat

Criminal Appeal · 2021 INSC 274Decided 28 Apr 2021
Criminal Appeal No. 216 of 2015
Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice R. Subhash Reddy

Background

Three men were convicted of murder after an incident in 2006 in which they allegedly ambushed three people travelling on a motorcycle near an orchard, fatally attacking one of them (Gokalbhai) with an axe and knives and injuring the other two, reportedly over a six-month-old dispute involving tractor-rent payment. The trial court convicted all three accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment; the Gujarat High Court confirmed the convictions on appeal but gave them the benefit of time already served being set off against their sentence. All three accused then separately appealed to the Supreme Court, which heard the three connected appeals together since they arose from the same facts.

Decision Breakdown

The appellants argued that the two injured eyewitnesses were unreliable "chance witnesses" whose testimony had contradictions, and that the absence of certain injuries in the postmortem report and non-recovery of the motorcycle undermined the prosecution's case. The Supreme Court held that only contradictions on material particulars (not minor inconsistencies natural to human memory) can discredit a witness, and found the eyewitness testimony here consistent, natural and trustworthy on the core facts of the attack. Finding the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubt and the concurrent findings of the trial court and High Court did not suffer from any legal or factual error, the Supreme Court dismissed all three appeals and upheld the convictions.

Lesson Learnt

Minor discrepancies in eyewitness accounts or gaps in supporting evidence (like a missing recovery of a weapon or vehicle) will not automatically undo a conviction if the core, material testimony of credible witnesses consistently establishes the accused's guilt.

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

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