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Sanjay Khanderao Wadane v. The State of Maharashtra

Criminal Appeal · 2017 INSC 704Decided 3 Aug 2017
Criminal Appeal No. 1962 of 2011
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice R.K. Agrawal

Background

On 31.01.2008, Ravindra Kale was beaten to death by a group of twelve people, including the appellant Sanjay Khanderao Wadane, arising from a long-standing dispute between the deceased and the accused. Eyewitnesses, including the deceased's brother and wife, testified that the accused arrived by car and motorcycles and attacked the deceased with swords and iron pipes. The Sessions Court convicted the appellant and others of murder (Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC) and other offences, sentencing them to life imprisonment, and the Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench) upheld the conviction; the appellant then appealed to the Supreme Court, principally attacking the credibility of the eyewitnesses and arguing that the post-mortem findings (no food particles in the deceased's intestine, despite a witness's claim they had eaten "Bhel" shortly before the attack) contradicted the prosecution's timeline.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the eyewitness testimony of the deceased's brother, cousin, and wife was trustworthy, consistent, and corroborated by the post-mortem report, which confirmed death by sharp-edged weapons (consistent with swords) and blunt trauma consistent with the described attack. On the digestion-timing argument, the Court held that stomach/intestine content is not a reliable, standalone method for fixing the exact time of death because digestion speed varies by individual, food type, and quantity, and cannot override clear, corroborated direct eyewitness evidence. Finding the minor inconsistencies in witness testimony immaterial and the medical evidence fully consistent with the prosecution's version of events, the Court found no infirmity in the conviction and sentence and dismissed the appeal.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will not let a technical or inconclusive point of forensic science, like exact stomach-digestion timing, override strong, consistent eyewitness testimony that is otherwise corroborated by the overall medical evidence; minor inconsistencies in witness accounts do not by themselves create reasonable doubt.

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

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