In Brief
On 10 January 2010, a fatal stabbing occurred outside a liquor shop in Delhi. Three accused were convicted of murder under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC (constructive liability). Two appellants challenged their life sentence convictions. The Supreme Court allowed the appeals and set aside the convictions, finding that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The key eye-witness was unreliable (a stock police informant with vested interests) and uncorroborated; key prosecution witnesses were hostile or contradicted each other; and the lower courts wrongly drew adverse inferences from non-cooperation in identification parades when witnesses had already seen the accused at the police station. The Court held that Section 34 requires proof of common intention and acts in furtherance thereof, which was absent here. The burden rested with the prosecution, not the defence.
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