In Brief
A shop owner (Arshad Sajad) was fatally assaulted with an iron rod after a payment dispute with the appellant. The victim and his father reported the assault to police; the victim died from head injuries during hospital transfer. The trial court acquitted the appellant, but the High Court reversed this and convicted him under Sections 302/341 RPC based on eyewitness testimony of the father, medical evidence, and circumstantial evidence. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction, holding that credible direct evidence from an interested witness, when supported by medical and circumstantial evidence and recovery of the weapon, proves guilt beyond reasonable doubt regardless of whether motive is explicitly established. The trial court erred in adopting a hyper-technical approach to evidence evaluation.
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