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State of Andhra Pradesh (Home Department) v. Ponthati Siva Rami Reddy and Others

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 820Decided 10 Aug 2026
Criminal Appeal No. 2120 of 2017
Justice Ujjal Bhuyan · Justice Atul S. Chandurkar

Background

Following a long-standing family feud, the respondents allegedly attacked the victim at night with sickles and iron pipes while he was on his way to water his crops. The victim gave a detailed statement to a doctor shortly before dying of his injuries. A trial court convicted the four accused of murder under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to life imprisonment, but the Andhra Pradesh High Court reduced this to culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 Part II), citing inconsistencies in the prosecution evidence, and reduced the sentence to six years' rigorous imprisonment. The State of Andhra Pradesh appealed to the Supreme Court seeking restoration of the murder conviction.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed the State's appeal, agreeing that the prosecution evidence contained material inconsistencies, including unexplained corrections and overwriting in the time recorded for the victim's dying statement, and the improbably detailed "blow by blow" account given by a victim who had suffered twenty-two grievous injuries and may have been under sedation: that made it unsafe to restore the murder conviction. However, the Court also criticised part of the High Court's reasoning as based on surmise and conjecture rather than evidence (its remark that four armed attackers would not normally leave without confirming the victim was dead), even while ultimately agreeing with the High Court's conclusion. Since the respondents had not challenged their reduced conviction and had already served time under it, the Court held the matter deserved finality and upheld the Section 304 Part II conviction.

Lesson Learnt

A criminal conviction cannot rest merely on a court's assumptions about how attackers "normally" behave. Courts must decide guilt strictly on the evidence on record, and unexplained inconsistencies in the prosecution's case (like altered timings or improbably detailed dying statements) can be enough to prevent a murder conviction from being restored even on appeal.

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

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