Summary
In the separate prosecution concerning the ritual killing of six-year-old Manisha, the Court relied on corroborated confessions to independent witnesses, identification evidence and forensic findings connecting recovered skeletal remains to her family. It upheld murder and concealment convictions and the life sentence without remission or parole, but set aside kidnapping and conspiracy convictions for want of acceptable proof.
Issues
- Whether corroborated extra-judicial confessions and identification evidence established murder and concealment.
- Whether kidnapping and conspiracy convictions and the sentence were sustainable.
Held
- Police confessions could not establish guilt, but the confessions made to independent witnesses before police arrived were consistently proved and corroborated. Extra-judicial confession, though weak evidence requiring caution, could be considered with that supporting material. (¶¶ 17, 20, 22, 23)
- Parents identified clothing matching the earlier missing report, and the forensic report established the mother’s biological relationship to the deceased. Taken together with consistent oral testimony and recovery from the appellants’ house, these circumstances identified the skeletal remains as Manisha’s beyond reasonable doubt. (¶¶ 15, 16, 22, 25)
- Acceptable evidence beyond the alleged confession did not establish kidnapping or conspiracy, warranting acquittal on those charges. Burial of the body nevertheless supported concealment liability under Section 201. (¶¶ 24, 26)
- The gruesome murder justified maintaining the High Court’s substituted sentence of life imprisonment without remission or parole. (¶ 27)
Result
The appeal was partly allowed. Convictions and sentences for kidnapping and conspiracy under Sections 364/34 and 120B were set aside. Convictions under Sections 302/34 and 201 and the corresponding sentences, including life imprisonment without remission or parole, were affirmed.