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Radhey Shyam & Ors. vs The State of Rajasthan

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 360Decided 12 Apr 2023
Criminal Appeal No. 2203 of 2010
Abhay S. Oka · Rajesh Bindal

Background

The case arose from a 1976 incident rooted in political rivalry between the family of the deceased, Raghunath Singh, and members of a rival political party (the "Azad party") formed by persons from the Ahir community. A mob allegedly attacked and killed Raghunath Singh. Of 29 persons charge-sheeted, the Sessions Court convicted 8 and acquitted 21; the High Court upheld the conviction of the 8. Three of the convicted persons appealed to the Supreme Court, challenging their conviction under Sections 148 and 302 read with 149 IPC, which rested mainly on the testimony of two eyewitnesses: the deceased's minor daughter (12 years old at the time of deposition) and his mother.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court scrutinized the identification evidence closely. It found that the child witness's identification was unreliable and had been facilitated by an unfair courtroom procedure (the five accused she named were made to stand separately from the other accused before she identified them, effectively cueing her identification) and she also got confused between two accused with similar names/lineage. The other eyewitness, the deceased's mother, was unable to identify even a single accused by name in court despite claiming she knew their names and could identify them, even though the trial judge specifically noted the courtroom had sufficient light and the accused's faces were clearly visible. With identification evidence from both witnesses found unsafe, and mere recovery of weapons being insufficient on its own to sustain a conviction, the Court held that guilt had not been established beyond reasonable doubt. It quashed the convictions, acquitted the appellants, and cancelled their bail bonds.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction cannot rest on eyewitness identification obtained through unfair or suggestive courtroom procedures, and when the only eyewitnesses cannot reliably identify the accused, recovery of a weapon alone is not enough to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Courts must scrutinize child-witness testimony and identification procedures with special care.

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

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