Summary
Murder and rioting convictions were set aside because the purported eyewitness accounts, delayed statements and weapon recoveries did not establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Delay alone does not discredit a witness, and an inconclusive blood-group report is not invariably fatal. Here, however, the explanation for delay was contradicted by the evidence, the prosecution account appeared concocted and even the human origin of the recovered bloodstains was unproved. The benefit extended to similarly placed convicted co-accused who had not appealed.
Issues
- Whether the eyewitness evidence and bloodstained weapon recoveries proved the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
- Whether failure to identify the origin or group of recovered blood necessarily defeats the prosecution.
Held
- Delay in recording an eyewitness statement does not by itself make the account suspect. Here the explanation that the witnesses had fled from fear was contradicted by evidence that one was present during the initial investigation; the supposedly feared principal accused remained unarrested even when statements were eventually recorded. (¶ 6–7)
- There is no fixed formula requiring, or dispensing with, a match between recovered blood and the deceased’s blood group. Where recovery is proved beyond reasonable doubt and investigation is untainted, proof of human blood may suffice despite disintegration preventing identification of its group. The surrounding evidence and reasonable doubts remain decisive. (¶ 8–13)
- The unreliable eyewitness account and apparent fabrication made the inconclusive recovery evidence insufficient. The laboratory could not establish even human origin, and the remaining witnesses concerned a conspiracy which the courts below had already found unproved. (¶ 14–16)
- Since the prosecution failed to prove the charges on the common evidence, the benefit also extended to the other accused convicted in the same trial who had not appealed. (¶ 16)
Result
Appeals allowed; trial and High Court judgments set aside. Appellants and the other convicted accused in the same sessions trial directed to be released forthwith unless required in another case.