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State of Maharashtra v. Ramlal Devappa Rathod and others

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 1957 of 2008)Decided 29 Sept 2015
Criminal Appeal No. 1957 of 2008
Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose · Justice Uday Umesh Lalit

Background

On 30 April 2000, a mob armed with sticks, axes, swords and stones attacked Tanaji Pandurang Rathod and his family at a village temple in Solapur district, Maharashtra, amid a dispute over 44 acres of agricultural land held by a cooperative society of which the family were trustees/members. Tanaji was chased, dragged from a relative's house, and fatally assaulted in a nearby field, while his house was looted and burned. The Trial Court convicted eight accused, but the Bombay High Court acquitted them on appeal, applying a rule (from the earlier Masalti case) that an unlawful-assembly member's presence should ordinarily be corroborated by more than one eyewitness; the State then appealed the acquittal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the Masalti "multiple-witness corroboration" rule is meant only for accused whose involvement rests solely on being present in an unlawful assembly, with no specific overt act attributed to them: it does not apply where a witness clearly and specifically describes a named assailant's own acts. Since the sole eyewitness, PW12 Sarojini (Tanaji's wife), gave clear and consistent testimony specifically identifying six of the accused as those who chased, lifted, and fatally assaulted Tanaji, the High Court had erred in discarding her testimony for want of corroboration. The Court restored the Trial Court's conviction and sentence for six accused (A-1, A-2, A-3, A-12, A-29, A-30) who were specifically identified in the final assault, while upholding the acquittal of two other accused who were only linked to setting fire to a different house and not to the fatal assault, since the benefit of doubt was warranted for them. The appeal was thus partly allowed, with the six reconvicted accused ordered taken into custody to serve their sentences.

Lesson Learnt

A single credible eyewitness's testimony can be sufficient to convict specific individuals in a mob-violence case if it clearly and consistently describes their own particular acts: the rule requiring multiple witnesses for corroboration applies only to those accused merely alleged to have been present in the unlawful assembly, not to those with specific acts attributed to them by name.

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

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