New Delhi: The Supreme Court has held that
in murder cases eyewitness account of a victim's close
relatives can be considered crucial piece of evidence as they
would not implicate an innocent person by shielding the actual
accused.
The apex court rejected the argument of the defence
counsel that since the witnesses were the wife and son of the
deceased Ram Kumar Singh, the evidence could not be relied on
as they were bound to be biased.
"It is well to remember that Mrs. Jishna PW-1 is the
wife of the deceased whereas Rupender Kumar, examined as PW-2,
is the son of the deceased.
They, being the close relatives of the deceased, would
not allow the real culprits to go scot free and implicate the
appellant falsely in the case," a bench of Justices B
Sudershan Reddy and J M Panchal observed in a judgement.
The apex court passed the judgement while upholding
the life sentence of Kirpal Singh for killing his uncle over a
land dispute on May 30, 1983 in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad
district. The accused had shot dead the victim at point blank
range.
The Sessions Court had initially convicted three
persons, Kallu Singh and his two sons -- Kripal Singh and
Vijay Pal Singh -- and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The High Court on an appeal of the accused upheld the
sentence against Kallu Singh and Kripal Singh but acquitted
Vijay Pal Singh of the charge of murder. During the
pendency of the appeal in the High Court, Kallu Singh died,
hence the case proceeded only against Kripal Singh.
Refusing to interfere with the sentence, the apex
court said the two lower courts rightly found the evidence of
the deceased's widow and son trustworthy as well as reliable
and the same was corroborated by her complaint, which was
neither ante-dated nor delayed and was filed promptly.
"It is well settled that when soon after the
occurrence the FIR is lodged at the police station, false
story being cooked up and/or false implication of accused
stands ruled out," the court said.
The testimony of wife of the deceased also gets
complete corroboration from the testimony of witness Rupender
Kumar, who is son of the deceased and examined as PW-2, it
said.
The apex court said the testimony of the two witnesses
were subjected to great caution by the two lower courts as
they were relatives of the deceased.
"Ms Jishna and Rupender Kumar, have narrated the whole
incident before the court on oath in a simple manner
without any material improvement. The testimony tendered by
the eye witnesses was subjected to great care, caution and
circumspection by the High Court as well as by the trial court
because the eye witnesses were found to be closely related to
the deceased as well as the accused," the apex court observed
while dismissing the accused's appeal.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, March 03, 2010, 17:49