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Kuna @ Sanjaya Behera v. The State of Odisha

Criminal Appeal · 2017 INSC 1124Decided 17 Nov 2017
Criminal Appeal No. 677 of 2010
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice Amitava Roy

Background

The appellant and a co-accused, Pravati Behera, were convicted by the Trial Court and the Odisha High Court under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC for the murder of Santosh Behera, whose death was initially reported as an unnatural hanging death but was later, based on the testimony of the deceased's brother (PW1), converted into a murder case alleging the appellant and co-accused had an illicit relationship and a motive to kill. Both the Trial Court and the High Court had relied substantially on PW1's eyewitness account and the testimony of other witnesses (PW3, PW5, PW6, PW8) who derived their knowledge from PW1, to convict the appellant, who then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court scrutinized PW1's testimony closely and found it riddled with inherent improbabilities and incongruities: most notably, PW1 claimed to have witnessed the hour-long assault and strangulation but did not raise an alarm or alert any of the 150-200 people living nearby, nor the relatives of either the deceased or the accused who lived in the same compound, which the Court found inconsistent with normal human conduct. The Court also found that the derivative testimony of the other prosecution witnesses, who learned of events only from PW1, could not independently corroborate the charge, and that the inference of motive drawn by the High Court from PW1 and PW3's evidence was flawed. Concluding that the prosecution's evidence fell short of proof beyond reasonable doubt and that the appellant was entitled to the benefit of the doubt, the Court allowed the appeal and ordered the appellant's acquittal and release.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction cannot stand on eyewitness testimony that defies ordinary human behaviour and common sense (such as a supposed eyewitness to a prolonged violent assault who never raises an alarm despite nearby help being available): courts will acquit where the sole substantive evidence is this unreliable and no other independent, clinching evidence supports the charge.

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

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