October 25, 2018:
Confession of the co-accused by itself cannot be the basis to proceed against the other accused.
Apex Court Bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice L. Nageswara Rao was hearing an Appeal filed by Convict against an order passed by High Court of Judicature at Allahabad whereby it upholded the Judgement of Conviction passed by Sessions Court.
The offence was punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) but it was converted from sentence of death into imprisonment for life with fine, and still it confirmed the conviction under Section 201 of the IPC and sentence of 2 years’ imprisonment and fine.
The Case pertained to one Zahida Begum, the second wife of appellant No.3, Akhtar Mohammad,son of Munshi, and their son Ishlam (aged about 11 years) who had gone missing from the village for the last two months,despite which their family members had not reported the matter to the police.
Appellant No 1 confessed that he, along with the other two appellants committed the murder of both Zahida and Ishlam and thereafter, dumped their dead bodies into the septic tank in the backyard of their house. Highly decomposed bodies were recovered on their instance.
After hearing both the sides Hon'ble Apex Court ruled,''The prosecution rests its case solely on circumstantial evidence..... we are in agreement with the conclusion reached by the trial court, which came to be affirmed by the High Court, regarding finding of guilt against appellant No.1 – Asar Mohammed, who had confessed to the police and also led the police party to the place where the dead bodies were dumped.....the prosecution has not produced any independent substantive evidence to even remotely suggest that appellant Nos.2 and 3 were involved in committing the murder of Zahida and Ishlam. By now, it is well settled that confession of the co-accused by itself cannot be the basis to proceed against the other accused unless something more is produced to indicate their involvement in the commission of the crime.''
Finally the appeal filed by appellant Nos.2 and 3 – Asraf Mohammed and Akhtar, respectively, was partly allowed by setting aside the conviction and sentence recorded against them for offence punishable under Section 302 IPC but the conviction and sentence for offence punishable under Section 201 IPC against them was upheld.
SC Judgement That Confession of Co Accused Solely Without Corroboration Not Sufficient to Convict, 2018 by Latest Laws Team on Scribd
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