The Madhya Pradesh High Court, held that Statement of Single Eye Witness Can Form Basis for Conviction under Section 134 of Indian Evidence Act. This was held in the case of MANISH VERSUS THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH [CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.2912 OF 2011], which was presided over by Justices Sujoy Paul and Prakash Chandra Gupta.
FACTS OF THE CASE
This Criminal appeal is filed under Section 374 (2) of Code of Criminal Procedure, whereby the appellant was held guilty for committing offence under Section 302 of IPC of murdering a woman and directed to undergo sentence of life imprisonment with a fine of Rs.1000/- with default stipulation.
The Complainant was the sister of the deceased and the single eyewitness in the case.
The case is primarily based on the testimony of the Complainant as well as his statement under Section 27 of the Evidence Act.
The Appellant submitted that the testimony only had one sole eyewitness. It was further pointed out that statements given by several other witnesses did not corroborate the prosecution story.
JUDGMENT OF THE CASE
The court held that there is no difficulty in accepting the legal principle that in view of section 134 of Indian Evidence Act, the statement of single eye witness can form basis for conviction.
Since prosecution has miserable failed to establish that at the time of recovery of ‘gamchha’ the appellant was in custody, the recovery cannot be said to be in consonance with Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act. At the cost of repetition, sole eye witness Kavita (PW-1) did not depose that when she had seen the appellant coming out of her house, he was wearing any ‘gamchha’. Since recovery of ‘gamchha’ is not proved, the availability of blood stains on it fades into insignificance.
With the aforesaid observations, the Court found it fit to acquit the Appellant by giving him the benefit of doubt. Accordingly, the appeal was allowed and his conviction was set aside.
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JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY VYSHNAVI KRISHNAN.
