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Sanju and Others vs State of Uttar Pradesh

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 880Decided 29 Aug 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 1981 of 2014
Sanjiv Khanna · Bela M. Trivedi · J.K. Maheshwari

Background

On 11 August 2003, Bhagwati Singh and his three sons were alleged to have attacked Chandrapal Singh outside his home in a village in Aligarh district, Uttar Pradesh, over a dispute about bricks stored on land. Chandrapal Singh was shot dead, and his brother Rakesh Kumar (the complainant) was assaulted and also fired at but escaped injury from the gunshots. The Sessions Court convicted the four accused under Section 302 (murder) and Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC, and the Allahabad High Court upheld the conviction. The convicts appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the evidence closely, including the informant Rakesh Kumar's testimony, medical evidence of his injuries, and the post-mortem report. It found Rakesh Kumar's account credible and consistent, corroborated by medical witnesses, and held that the place and circumstances of the incident were proved beyond doubt. However, the Court discarded the testimony of a second purported eyewitness, Ramphal Singh, because his claim of having witnessed the shooting was not disclosed to the investigating officer at the time and surfaced only weeks later. Relying on Rakesh Kumar's testimony alone, the Court found the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and dismissed the appeal, upholding the conviction and sentence. One appellant who had been out on bail was directed to surrender within a month.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction can be sustained on the strength of one truthful, consistent, and injured witness even where another supposed eyewitness's account is disbelieved for being an unexplained, delayed embellishment. Courts weigh the quality of evidence, not merely its quantity.

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

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