The Supreme Court dismissed the State's special leave petition against an acquittal in a murder case, holding that the High Court's view was not perverse and that since the testimonies of eye-witnesses were inconsistent, the benefit of doubt favored the accused.
The criminal appeal filed by the State was dismissed, thereby upholding the acquittal by the High Court.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
NON-REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1700 OF 2014
STATE OF UTTARAKHAND …APPELLANT(S)
VERSUS
DEEPU VERMA @ DEVENDRA LAL … RESPONDENT(S)
J U D G M E N T
B.R. GAVAI, J.
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under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, “IPC”) and sentencing him to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1,000/-.
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respondent and sentenced him to suffer imprisonment for life.
impugned judgment and order allowed the appeal. Hence the present appeal filed by the State.
the appellant-State submits that the learned Division bench of the High Court has grossly erred in reversing the wellreasoned judgment and order passed by the trial court. It is submitted that the testimony of PW-1, PW-2 and PW-4, who are the eye-witnesses is consistent. He further submits that the testimony of PW-1 is also duly corroborated by PW-3 (Shankar Lal Verma). It is also contended that merely because there are inconsistencies in the evidence, the testimony of the eye-witnesses cannot be discarded. 9. Shri Gautam submitted that all the witnesses are rustic
villagers and therefore minor inconsistencies and
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contradictions would be natural in their evidence. It is submitted that, however, insofar as the role of assault attributed to the present respondent is concerned, all the three eye-witnesses are consistent which is also corroborated by PW-3. The learned AAG therefore submits that the present appeal deserves to be allowed and the impugned judgment and order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court should be quashed and set aside.
we have perused the material placed on record. 12. By now, the position of law with regard to the interference by this Court in a finding of acquittal is very well crystallized.
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totally perverse or impossible, it will not be permissible for this Court to interfere with the same. Equally, if two views are possible and one of the views is taken by the High Court merely because the other view appears to be a possible view, the same cannot be a ground to interfere with the finding of acquittal.
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house of deceased-Hira Lal Verma is situated only at a distance of 20 to 22 steps away. However, when we examine the testimony of PW-2, who is the daughter of PW-1, it would reveal that the distance between the house of the witnesses and house of the deceased is around 80 meters which would make it around 160 steps. According to PW-2, immediately after hearing the cry of the deceased, all three of them rushed to the place of occurrence. However, in the meantime, the accused had managed to flee away towards the road along with bloodstained stickle. In her cross-examination, it is categorically admitted by PW-2 that when she reached the courtyard of the deceased, the accused was not present there. Insofar as the alleged motive of demand of money is concerned, she specifically stated that the accused never made any demand from the deceased either in her presence or in the presence of her parents. 16. The next eye- witness is PW-4 (Hira Devi), wife of PW-1. In her testimony, she states that after hearing the cries of ‘ bachao bachao’ , all three of them rushed to the house of deceased-Hira Lal Verma. According to her, she reached the house of deceased-Hira Lal Verma first followed by her
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daughter and her husband. She admitted in her crossexamination that her eye-sight is weak and she could see an object at a distance of 10 to 12 steps only. She also acknowledged that it was she who reached first in the courtyard of deceased-Hira Lal Verma followed by her daughter. Subsequently the other persons along with her husband came on the spot. 17. Insofar as PW-3 (Shankar Lal Verma) is concerned, he admittedly has not seen the incident and has been told by PW-1 (Ganeshi Lal) about the same. 18. No doubt that all the three alleged witnesses are rustic villagers and, therefore, their testimonies will have to be taken with a pinch of salt. 19. If we examine the testimonies of PW-1, PW-2 and PW-4, it can be seen that according to PW-2, she was the one who has reached the spot first, and according to PW-4, it is she who has reached the spot first thereafter followed by her daughter (PW-2). Thereafter, after sometime, PW-1 arrived at the scene along with other neighbours. It can further be seen that according to PW-1, it is only PW-1 who has witnessed the incident, whereas according to other witnesses i.e. PW-2 and PW-4, the accused had already left the place by the time
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PW-1 and others reached the spot. In this background, it is difficult to believe that PW-1 (Ganeshi Lal) has actually witnessed the incident.
person.
witnesses.
..............................J.
..................................J.
(K. VINOD CHANDRAN)
NEW DELHI; FEBRUARY 06, 2025.
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3 issues framed by the court
whether the High Court's acquittal of the respondent for murder amounts to a totally perverse finding warranting interference.
whether the inconsistencies in the eyewitness testimony create a reasonable doubt sufficient to sustain an acquittal.
if two views are possible, whether the Supreme Court can interfere when the High Court adopts one possible view.
State of Uttarakhand
Deepu Verma @ Devendra Lal
B.R. Gavai
K. Vinod Chandra
As recorded by the court registry
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