Chhattisgarh High Court: Order of conviction and sentence passed against the accused-appellants by the trial court under Section 302 of IPC was set aside in a criminal appeal by a Division Bench of Prashant Kumar Mishra and Ram Prasanna Sharma, JJ.
The appellants were accused of murdering the deceased and were tried, convicted and sentenced under Section 302 IPC by the trial court. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the case of prosecution was based on the alleged extra-judicial confession made by appellants, but the same was not substantiated by any of the prosecution witnesses.
The High Court, after perusal of the record, found that there was no eyewitness to the incident and the case of prosecution was based on circumstantial evidence. The statement of the witnesses did not support the case of the prosecution. Further, the prosecution tried to establish extra-judicial confession on the basis of statement of PW 10, but her version was not stable right from the beginning of investigation. The Court observed that the extra-judicial confession is admissible if it inspires confidence and is made voluntarily. However, in the instant case, it was held that, the statement regarding extra-judicial confession made by PW 10 could not be acted upon as it was unstable and contradictory. The Court held that on an overall assessment of the evidence adduced by the prosecution, it could not be established that the appellants committed murder of the deceased, and the finding arrived at by the trial court were not sustainable in law. Hence the appeal was allowed and the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial court was set aside. [Dindayal v. State of Chhattisgarh, 2018 SCC OnLine Chh 385, dated 6-4-2018]
