In Brief
A ten-year-old boy, Muntiyaz Ali, was found dead with a rope around his neck and his hands tied. Three appellants (Nazim, Aftab, and Arman Ali) were convicted of murder and conspiracy based on circumstantial evidence. The Supreme Court acquitted all three, holding that the prosecution failed to establish an unbroken chain of circumstantial evidence. Key deficiencies included: the appellants were not named in the original FIR; PW-2's conspiracy testimony was implausible and inexplicably withheld; PW-3 and PW-4's identification of the accused lacked a Test Identification Parade and the time gap between alleged sightings and body discovery was too wide to exclude third-party involvement; forensic evidence was inconclusive and neutral; and alleged motive was speculative. The Court reaffirmed that strong suspicion cannot substitute for proof and every circumstance must satisfy stringent standards in circumstantial evidence cases.
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