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Sheesh Ram & Others v. State of Rajasthan

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 191 of 2004)Decided 29 Jan 2014
Criminal Appeal No. 191 of 2004
Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya · Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai

Background

A group attacked two brothers near a road, killing Balram and seriously injuring Bhagwan Singh, against a background of hostility between the families. The appellants' convictions for murder and attempted murder were upheld by the Rajasthan High Court, although several other accused were acquitted. The appellants argued that exaggerations implicating those acquitted people made the eyewitnesses' entire account unreliable.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and left the appellants' convictions and sentences intact. The injured survivor's account was credible, supported by other eyewitnesses and not undermined in cross-examination. Exaggerations about the acquitted accused could be separated from the consistent evidence identifying the appellants' acts. Indian law does not require every part of a witness's testimony to be rejected merely because one part is false, and a relationship to the victim calls for careful scrutiny rather than automatic rejection.

Lesson Learnt

A witness's mistake or exaggeration does not necessarily erase a reliable account of the central event. Courts can accept the trustworthy part when it can be separated from the unreliable part without inventing a new prosecution story.

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

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