In Brief
A man was convicted of murdering another with lathi blows. The Supreme Court set aside the conviction and acquitted the appellant. Although eyewitnesses (family members of the deceased) testified that the accused beat the victim with sticks, the postmortem showed the fatal injury was a sharp puncture wound to the neck caused by a pointed weapon—inconsistent with lathi blows. The Court found the eyewitness evidence unreliable because the witnesses were closely related, had longstanding property disputes with the accused, gave inconsistent statements, and improved their testimony at trial. No independent village witnesses corroborated their accounts. The alleged weapon was never examined medically to verify compatibility with the fatal injury. The prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt."
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.