Deciding Authority: Supreme Court of India
Name of the Judges: Justice Harjit Singh Bedi, Justice Chandramauli Kr. Prasad
Date of Judgment: 2 December 2010
Facts of the Case: The incident happened at about midnight of the night intervening the 29th and 30th June 1995. The allegations were that the appellants and some others all armed with firearms had first entered the house of Mardan Singh PW and shot dead Devendrasingh, Shankarsingh and Komalsingh; they had thereafter entered the house of Ashoksingh and shot and killed him and his wife Purnawati and thereafter entered the house of Betal Singh and shot him dead as well. The trial court on a consideration of the evidence in the case awarded a death sentence to Chandu and a sentence of life imprisonment to Balveer and Bheekam for the first incident. For the second incident, Balveer was sentenced to death, and for the third Chandu was sentenced to death and Bheekam to life imprisonment. The trial court observed that the eye witness account inspired confidence and though there was one eye witness for each of the three incidents, the accused had been identified by the witnesses as they were all belonged to the same village and were neighbours. The trial court also held that there was evidence to show the presence of light bulbs in each of the houses by which the accused had been identified. The matters were then taken to the High Court in murder references and in appeal. The High Court has declined the murder references and allowed the appeal acquitting the accused. The High Court noticed several arguments raised before it but by a cryptic judgment disposed of the matter in one paragraph observing that as there appeared to be no light in any of the three houses where the murders had been committed, it was apparent that the eye witnesses could not have identified the accused. The present set of appeals had been filed by the State of Madhya Pradesh impugning the judgment of the High Court.
Judgment: The Court was not inclined to examine the evidence as we intend to remand the matter for a fresh hearing. The Court was of the opinion that the High Court’s order was cryptic and did not minutely examine the evidence though it was the final court of fact and more particularly as it involved six murders. The Court made it clear that it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case but it felt that a more elaborate and comprehensive discussion on the evidence was required to be made. Thus, the Court felt it appropriate to remand the matter to the High Court so that the remedy which may subsequently be available to either of the parties before the Supreme Court was not taken away. In the light of the fact that the respondents herein had been acquitted by the High Court, the Court deemed it proper notwithstanding that these appeals were being allowed that they should continue to remain on bail till the matter was finally disposed of by the High Court. The Court again reiterated that any observation made herein should not be read as a reflection of its opinion on the merits of the case. The parties were directed to appear before the Registrar of the High Court on the 10th January 2011, for the purpose of fixing a date for final hearing. The High Court was requested to dispose of the references and the appeals as expeditiously as possible.
Decision: The Court allowed the appeals, set aside the judgment of the High Court and remanded the case to the High Court for fresh decision to be rendered after a re-appraisal of the evidence.
By: Roopali Mohan, 2nd Year, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, New Delhi