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Shishpal @ Shishu vs State of NCT of Delhi

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 670Decided 11 Jul 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 81 of 2018
Abhay S. Oka · M.M. Sundresh

Background

The two appellants (A-1 and A-3) were convicted of murder along with a third accused (A-2, not before the Court) for killing a man near a liquor shop queue in Delhi in January 2010, allegedly by acting together with common intention under Section 34 IPC. Both the trial court and the Delhi High Court had convicted and sentenced them to life imprisonment based mainly on eyewitness testimony. The appellants challenged their conviction before the Supreme Court, arguing the evidence against them was unreliable and contradictory.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found serious flaws in the prosecution's key witnesses: the alleged eyewitness (PW3) was a "stock witness" who had testified for the police in multiple unrelated cases and gave an account inconsistent with the prosecution's own case, while other witnesses either turned hostile or had credibility problems, and the recovery of the weapon lacked independent witnesses. The Court explained that Section 34 IPC creates only a rule of shared liability where a common intention to commit the crime is proved beyond reasonable doubt. It does not itself define an offence, and mere presence at the scene is not enough without adequate proof of that shared intention. Since the prosecution's evidence did not establish common intention or reliably prove the appellants' role beyond reasonable doubt, the Court set aside the conviction and acquitted both appellants.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction for murder based on "common intention" liability (Section 34 IPC) requires solid, believable proof that the accused shared a plan with the actual perpetrator. Courts cannot convict merely because someone was present at the scene, especially when the prosecution's witnesses are unreliable "stock witnesses" or give contradictory accounts.

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

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