In Brief

Achhar Singh and Budhi Singh were convicted by the High Court of Himachal Pradesh after the trial court acquitted them. The prosecution alleged that on 23 February 1996, the appellants attacked the victim's family with axes, fatally injuring Swari Devi. The trial court found the eyewitness testimony exaggerated and contradictory. The High Court re-appreciated the evidence, identifying a consistent core: multiple eyewitnesses consistently testified that Budhi Singh struck Swari Devi's head with an axe; she died on the spot; and Achhar Singh attacked Beli Ram with an axe. This testimony was corroborated by the FIR, post-mortem report showing one fatal head injury, and medical evidence. The Supreme Court upheld the convictions, holding that courts must distinguish exaggeration (which contains truth) from falsehood, and that the High Court properly interfered with the trial court's perverse dismissal of material evidence.

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