Sakunjay Vyas
Published on: March 08, 2022 at 09:05 IST
The Two Judge Bench of Justice M. R. Shah and Justice B. V. Nagarathna of Supreme Court overturned the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh bench order that acquitted the accused persons based on minor contradictions.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that Minor contradictions must not become the basis of the judgments of the Courts.
The Two Judge Bench of Justice M. R. Shah and Justice B. V. Nagarathna was hearing an appeal against the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh bench order that acquitted the accused persons based on minor contradictions, which were not material and did not disprove the claims made by the prosecution.
The Apex Court was stunned to note, the High Court while deciding the case, the High Court has unnecessarily given weightage to some minor contradictions and has made them the basis for their decision.
That the High Court has blindly affirmed the decision of the Lower Court without carefully considering all the facts, statements, and other shreds of evidence provided by the prosecution.
“…the High Court, we are of the opinion that the High Court has unnecessarily given weightage to some minor contradictions. The contradictions, if any, are not material contradictions which can affect the case of the prosecution as a whole.”
the Court said.
The Appellant argued that the High Court has erred in acquitting the accused. It has unnecessarily given weightage to the alleged interpolation in the FIR with respect to the time of lodging the FIR and that the same was sent to the learned Magistrate within a period of 24 hours as required under the law.
That the High Court has doubted the credibility of the witnesses because of the minor contradictions present in their statements. And that the High Court has not at all appreciated and considered the facts stated and shreds of evidence provided by the prosecution.
The present appeals are vehemently opposed by the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent.
The apex court stated that after disposition of all the relevant witnesses, examining the shreds of evidence, and hearing both the parties we are of the opinion that t there are no major/material contradictions in the deposition of the eye-witnesses and injured eye-witnesses. The Court also stated that just because if the witnesses are relatives of the parties involved their evidence cannot be disregarded.
“Having gone through the deposition of the relevant witnesses – eye-witnesses/injured eye-witnesses, we are of the opinion that there are no major/material contradictions in the deposition of the eye-witnesses and injured eye-witnesses….Merely because the witnesses were the relatives of the deceased, their evidence cannot be discarded solely on the aforesaid ground.”
the Court said.
As a result, the Apex Court has quashed and set aside the order of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh bench and has restored order passed by the learned trial Court of conviction.
Further, the accused are directed to surrender to undergo the remaining sentence, within a period of four weeks from today.
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