In Brief
The State of Madhya Pradesh appealed against the High Court's acquittal of Phoolchand Rathore, who had been convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife. The case rested entirely on circumstantial evidence. The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal, finding that the prosecution had failed to prove several critical circumstances beyond reasonable doubt: the alleged motive (a jewellery dispute) was disproved; the recovery of blood-stained clothes and stones was rendered doubtful by contradictions in police testimony and the denial by the recovery witness; the alleged extra-judicial confession was unreliable and full of embellishments; and the circumstance of taking the deceased on a bicycle, standing alone, did not conclusively prove murder. The Court held that the High Court's view was plausible and not vitiated by perversity, and therefore dismissed the appeals.
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