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Vishwanatha vs. The State of Karnataka

Not available · 2024 INSC 482Decided 8 Jul 2024
Not available
Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia · Justice Prasanna B. Varale

Background

An 86-year-old woman was found strangled to death at her home in Mangalore in 2000 while alone. Her daughter and a neighbour claimed to have witnessed the appellant and a co-accused strangling her by peering through a bedroom window, after which the daughter allegedly called out one accused's name causing them to flee. The trial court acquitted the appellant, but the Karnataka High Court reversed this on the State's appeal and convicted him of murder and house-trespass, sentencing him to life imprisonment.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found the prosecution's account of the eyewitnesses' timeline implausible: the daughter claimed to have travelled roughly 20 km across multiple errands and still arrived home at the exact moment the crime was allegedly in progress. More critically, the postmortem report showed ligature marks that did not encircle the neck as would be expected from the strangulation method the witnesses described, directly contradicting their testimony. Given this conflict between the eyewitness account and objective medical evidence, the Court held the prosecution had not proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, allowed the appeal, and restored the trial court's acquittal, giving the appellant the benefit of the doubt.

Lesson Learnt

A criminal conviction cannot stand on eyewitness testimony alone when it is contradicted by objective medical or forensic evidence. Courts will give the accused the benefit of the doubt when the ocular and medical evidence do not match.

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

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