July 11, 2018:
Supreme Court has expounded that,‘On witnessing a crime, each person reacts in his own way and their evidence cannot be doubted on the ground that the witness has not acted in a particular manner.’
SC Bench comprising of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R Banumathi enunciated that,"Evidence of the eye witnesses cannot be doubted on the ground that they did not intervene in the attack nor made attempts to save the deceased".
Bombay High Court had reversed order of acquittal of the Trial Court.
Trial Court had found favour with argument that eye witnesses did not go to the rescue of the deceased and it is quite unbelievable that on seeing the accused who were armed with weapons, both of them went inside the house.
HC Bench has stated that their evidence is not trustworthy and the HC was not right in intervening such finding and basing the conviction on the evidence of the eye witnesses.
Apex Court agreed with Bombay HC's observation that Trial Court gave importance to the insignificant aspects like “smearing of the thighs and legs of the body with mud” and the conduct of the witnesses as to why they have not reacted in a particular manner.
SC Bench stated that,“Their Evidence cannot be doubted on ground that they did not intervene in the attack nor made attempts to save the deceased. On witnessing a crime, each person reacts in his own way and their evidence cannot be doubted on the ground that the witness has not acted in a particular manner. Evidence of PWs 3 and 4 cannot be doubted merely because they have not acted in a particular manner.”
Apex Court upheld High Court's judgment and confirmed sentence of life imprisonment.
Read Judgment @LatestLaws.com:
Supreme Court Judgment on Role of Eye Witnesses (Download PDF)
Supreme Court Judgment on Role of Eye Witnesses by Latest Laws Team on Scribd
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