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Sudha Renukaiah & Ors. v. State of A.P.

Criminal Appeal · 2017 INSC 347Decided 13 Apr 2017
Criminal Appeal Nos. 119-120 of 2014
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Ashok Bhushan

Background

Two rival factions in Vellaluru village (Andhra Pradesh) had a long history of violence and cross-criminal cases. In October 2003, two men from one faction, returning from a court hearing on a motorbike with a young companion (PW-5, then about 12½ years old), were allegedly ambushed by a lorry carrying the accused, armed with axes, knives and sticks; both men were killed and the companion seriously injured. The trial court acquitted all the accused, mainly disbelieving the eyewitnesses, including the injured witness PW-5, over inconsistencies and because the medical evidence was not put to the doctors in a way the court found satisfactory. The Andhra Pradesh High Court reversed the acquittal on appeal and convicted several accused under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC, sentencing them to life imprisonment; the convicted accused then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals and upheld the conviction, holding that the trial court's reasons for disbelieving the eyewitnesses, including the injured witness who was unconscious for about 20 days and therefore examined late, were "perverse" and not grounded in the actual evidence. The Court found that the ocular accounts of multiple eyewitnesses (including the injured witness) were fully consistent with the postmortem findings on the two deceased, that minor inconsistencies in eyewitness accounts years after the event were natural and did not undermine the prosecution case, and that an appellate court has full power to reappreciate evidence and reverse an acquittal where the trial court's view was unreasonable or perverse, even though acquittals carry a double presumption of innocence. The Court reiterated settled principles on when appellate courts may interfere with acquittals (only with "very substantial and compelling reasons," not merely a different possible view).

Lesson Learnt

An acquittal is not final or untouchable: a higher court can overturn it on appeal if the trial court's reasoning for disbelieving credible eyewitnesses (including victims) was unreasonable or disconnected from the actual medical and factual evidence, and minor memory lapses by eyewitnesses recalling a violent incident years later do not by themselves make their testimony unreliable.

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

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