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Papan Sarkar @ Pranab v. State of West Bengal

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 528Decided 22 May 2026
Crl.A. No.-002507-002507 - 2026
Justice Sanjay Kumar · Justice K. Vinod Chandran

Background

The son of the complainant went missing on the evening of 31.10.2012 and was found dead the next day in a field; his three companions from the previous evening were arrested and tried for murder based on a "last seen together" theory, an alleged extra-judicial confession, recovery of weapons and a motorbike, and a serology report showing alcohol in the deceased's stomach. The trial court convicted the accused and the High Court affirmed the conviction. Two of the three convicted men (the third did not appeal) approached the Supreme Court challenging their conviction, which rested entirely on circumstantial evidence.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court re-examined each circumstance relied upon by the lower courts and found the chain of circumstantial evidence riddled with gaps and contradictions. A key eyewitness's claim of seeing the men drinking together was found unreliable since she could not explain her own presence at the location; the recovered "weapons" were never produced in court or shown to the doctor to confirm they could have caused the injuries; the recovered motorcycle was never produced or verified as belonging to the deceased; and the witness who spoke of an extra-judicial confession admitted under cross-examination that she had been threatened by the complainant into testifying falsely. With no motive established and no circumstance conclusively pointing to guilt, the Court held the prosecution had not proved a complete, unbroken chain excluding every hypothesis of innocence, and reversed the conviction, acquitting the appellants. It also directed legal aid authorities to help the third, non-appealing co-accused file his own appeal so he is not left languishing in custody merely for not having appealed.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction based purely on circumstantial evidence can stand only if every link in the chain is proven beyond reasonable doubt and excludes any possibility of innocence: unreliable witnesses, unproduced physical evidence, and unexplained contradictions can be enough to overturn even a conviction affirmed by two lower courts.

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

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