Supreme Court Acquits Man Accused of Murder, Says Suspicion Isn’t Enough to Convict
The Supreme Court of India has acquitted a man who was earlier found guilty of murder, saying that a person cannot be punished based on suspicion alone. The bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha delivered this important judgment on Thursday.
The man was earlier convicted by a trial court under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The conviction and sentence were also upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Unhappy with the High Court’s decision, the accused, Ram Niwas, approached the Supreme Court with an appeal.
The appellant’s lawyer argued that the prosecution failed to prove that the body found was that of the deceased, and without this confirmation, the conviction could not stand. The only evidence relied upon was an alleged confession made outside the court, which is called an extrajudicial confession.
The Supreme Court noted that the prosecution had completely failed to show a complete chain of events that would prove the accused’s guilt.
The bench clearly stated:
“Suspicion, however strong, cannot replace proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A person is considered innocent until proven guilty beyond doubt.”
Because the prosecution could not prove the case properly, the Court set aside the decisions of the lower courts and acquitted the accused.
Case Title: Ram Niwas v. State of Haryana
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