In Brief
Baliraj Singh was convicted of murder under Section 302/34 IPC and sentenced to life imprisonment based on eyewitness testimony. The High Court upheld the conviction. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction and acquitted Singh. The Court found that the three key eyewitnesses—the deceased's wife, the complainant's wife, and a family friend—were all closely related to the victim and their testimonies were materially inconsistent. Critically, their accounts of lathi blows contradicted medical evidence showing a fatal wound from a sharp piercing object. The seized weapon was never examined, and no independent village witnesses corroborated the prosecution case. The Court held that such related eyewitnesses require strict scrutiny, which the courts below had failed to apply.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.