Star Judgement Review
"Conviction can be based on testimony''
Apex court quashes Rajasthan High Court's ruling
- Witness must pass test of reliability
- Independent corroboration of testimony
Conviction of an accused by a court in a criminal trial can be based on the testimony of a sole witness even when he/she is related to the deceased, the Supreme Court has held. Reiterating the law in this regard, a Bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice B.P. Singh said, "conviction can be based on the testimony of a single eyewitness and there is no rule of law or evidence, which says to the contrary, provided, the sole witness passes the test of reliability. So long as the single eyewitness is wholly reliable the courts have no difficulty in basing conviction on his testimony alone."
The Bench said, "however, where the single eyewitness is not found to be a wholly reliable witness, in the sense that there are some circumstances which may show that he could have an interest in the prosecution, then the courts generally insist upon some independent corroboration of his testimony, in material particulars before recording conviction."
Writing the judgment Justice Pasayat said, "mere relationship of the witness with the deceased is no ground to discard his testimony, if it is otherwise found to be reliable and trustworthy. In the normal course of events, a close relation would be the last person to spare the real assailant and implicate a false person. However, the possibility that he may also implicate some innocent person along with the real assailant cannot be ruled out and therefore, as a matter of prudence, the court should look for some independent corroboration of his testimony to decide the involvement of the other accused in the crime."
In the instant case, Om Prakash was awarded life imprisonment by the Sessions Court at Nagaur in Rajasthan for killing his wife, Shivpyari on May 14, 1992. The conviction was based on the sole evidence of the brother of the deceased. On appeal, the High Court set aside the order holding that the evidence of the interested witness was not reliable and acquitted the accused.
The present appeal by the Rajasthan Government was directed against this judgment. The apex court quashed the impugned judgment.
Source: The Hindu, 17/06/2007.
