Calcutta HC: Award May Be Set Aside if Tribunal Rewrites Contract or Ignores Key Clauses  ||  Delhi HC Suspends Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s Life Term, Holding Section 5(C) of POCSO Not Made Out  ||  Calcutta High Court: Arbitration Clause in an Expired Lease Cannot be Invoked For a Fresh Lease  ||  Delhi High Court: 120-Day Timeline under Section 132B Of Income Tax Act is Not Mandatory  ||  NCLAT Reaffirms That Borrower's Debt Acknowledgment Also Extends Limitation Period for Guarantors  ||  NCLAT: Oppression & Mismanagement Petition Cannot Be Filed Without Company Membership on Filing Date  ||  Supreme Court Quashes Rajasthan Village Renaming, Says Government Must Follow its Own Policy  ||  NCLAT: NCLT Can Order Forensic Audit on its Own, No Separate Application Required  ||  NCLAT Reiterates That IBC Cannot be Invoked as a Recovery Tool for Contractual Disputes  ||  Delhi HC: DRI or Central Revenues Control Lab Presence in Delhi Alone Does Not Confer Jurisdiction    

Ram Laxman and Ors. v. State of Rajasthan - (Supreme Court) (03 Mar 2016)

Court cannot rely on unreliable witness to convict one and acquit another

MANU/SC/0274/2016

Criminal

An undependable and unreliable witness’s testimony cannot be split to grant benefit to some co-accused in the crime, while maintaining conviction of another, when both stand on the same footing and deserve parity. The Supreme Court disagreed with the High Court’s conclusion, convicting the Appellants and acquitting a co-accused, on the basis of unreliable witness testimony and corroboration by the post mortem report. The Supreme Court held that since the witness’s testimony was highly unreliable, no weight could be placed on it in determining the specific injuries caused by the accused. It distinguished the High Court’s finding from the accepted principle that “on account of detecting some falsehood in the statement of a witness who is otherwise consistent and reliable, his entire testimony should not be discarded”, however such split evidence could not then be relied upon to benefit one accused over another.

Relevant : Ugar Ahir and Ors. v. The State of Bihar MANU/SC/0333/1964 Joginder Singh v. State of Punjab MANU/SC/0934/1993

Tags : UNRELIABLE WITNESS   SPLIT TESTIMONY   ACQUITTAL  

Share :        

Disclaimer | Copyright 2025 - All Rights Reserved