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Kusal Toppo and Another v. The State of Jharkhand

Criminal Appeal · 2018 INSC 677Decided 7 Aug 2018
Criminal Appeal Nos. 1691-1692 of 2010
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar

Background

A truck owner, her driver, and a cleaner were found murdered near Ranchi, and the accused (including appellants A-1 and A-4) were convicted by the trial court under Sections 302 and 392 IPC and sentenced to life imprisonment, a conviction the Jharkhand High Court affirmed. The prosecution's case against these two appellants rested almost entirely on an alleged extra-judicial confession by a co-accused (Mahendra, A-2) and the recovery of a rope based on another co-accused's (A-3's) statement to police. The hotel owner who was supposed to have heard the confession turned hostile at trial and denied the entire conversation.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the evidence of the alleged confession was hearsay as recounted by the witness (PW-2), since he only heard about it second-hand from the hotel owner, who himself denied it in court, leaving no reliable corroboration. Relying on settled law (including Haricharan Kurmi, Sahadevan, and Pancho), the Court reiterated that an extra-judicial confession is inherently weak evidence that cannot sustain a conviction without independent corroboration, and that a co-accused's confession cannot be used as substantive evidence against another accused. It further held that the recovery of a common rope, with no forensic link to the crime, did not satisfy the requirements of Section 27 of the Evidence Act. Finding no reliable evidence against the appellants, the Court set aside the convictions of both the trial court and High Court and acquitted them of all charges, allowing the appeals.

Lesson Learnt

A criminal conviction cannot rest on a weak, uncorroborated extra-judicial confession, especially one relayed second-hand through a witness who later denies it, nor on the mere recovery of a commonplace object with no scientific link to the offence.

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

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