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Sudhakar @ Sudharasan v. State rep. by the Inspector of Police

Criminal Appeal · 2018 INSC 229Decided 12 Mar 2018
Criminal Appeal No. 381 of 2018
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice S. Abdul Nazeer

Background

The appellant was convicted by the trial court and the Madras High Court for the murder of his grandmother, allegedly strangled over a money dispute, with the prosecution's case resting mainly on the testimony of her son-in-law and daughter (PW1 and PW5). The appellant argued the conviction rested on contradictory, unreliable testimony from witnesses who were not just related but had a pecuniary interest, a pending property-partition suit against him, in seeing him convicted, and that key corroborating witnesses had turned hostile.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found serious infirmities in the prosecution's case: the two witnesses who allegedly saw the arrest and seizure of evidence turned hostile and denied the prosecution's version, independent neighbourhood witnesses also turned hostile, and the hospital's own Accident Register recorded a "history of fall" rather than strangulation. Applying the settled principle that evidence of related and interested witnesses must be scrutinised with extra care, the Court held that PW1 and PW5 were not just related but genuinely "interested" witnesses given the ongoing property dispute, and that the prosecution's story was riddled with unexplained contradictions about the arrest location, the complaint, and hospital procedure. Concluding that the prosecution had failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt and that both lower courts had misdirected themselves, the Court allowed the appeal, set aside the conviction, and ordered the appellant's immediate release.

Lesson Learnt

A criminal conviction cannot stand on the testimony of witnesses who are both related to the deceased and have a personal financial stake (such as a pending property dispute) in the accused's conviction, especially where corroborating witnesses turn hostile and the medical/hospital record contradicts the prosecution's version of events.

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

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