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The State of Madhya Pradesh v. Shabana Bi

Criminal Appeal · 2018 INSC 758Decided 29 Aug 2018
Criminal Appeal No. 1791 of 2011
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice Vineet Saran

Background

The accused and the deceased, Farida, were neighbours. On 19 April 2004, the accused allegedly poured kerosene on Farida and set her on fire, after which Farida died. The trial court convicted the accused of murder under Section 302 IPC based on a dying declaration recorded by a Tehsildar (Executive Magistrate) and sentenced her to life imprisonment. On appeal, the High Court acquitted her, pointing to an inconsistency between that dying declaration and an earlier one recorded by a doctor, in which the deceased had named both the accused and her mother as the culprits. The State then appealed to the Supreme Court against the acquittal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the two dying declarations and agreed that there was a genuine inconsistency between them regarding who exactly set the deceased on fire. The Court held that where two reasonable views of the evidence are possible and the High Court has adopted one plausible view (benefit of the doubt to the accused), the Supreme Court should not interfere with an order of acquittal merely because another view was also possible. Finding no substantial ground to disturb the High Court's judgment, the Supreme Court dismissed the State's appeal, finally affirming the acquittal.

Lesson Learnt

When a dying declaration is the key piece of evidence, any inconsistency between multiple such declarations can create reasonable doubt, and once an appellate court has taken a plausible view in favour of acquittal based on that doubt, a higher court will generally not interfere simply because a different view was also possible.

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

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