After 30 yrs, SC acquits man accused of murder

More than 30 years after a man was arrested for allegedly committing a murder, the Supreme Court has acquitted him due to lack of evidence and inconsistent statements by the eye-witnesses.

More than 30 years after a man was arrested for allegedly committing a murder, the Supreme Court has acquitted him due to lack of evidence and inconsistent statements by the eye-witnesses.

The apex court took the view that non-examination of the investigating officer and the doctor who performed the autopsy of the victim would be justification enough for discarding the prosecution’s claim and gave the benefit of the doubt to the accused.

The apex court upheld the Kirandeo Prasad’s acquittal ordered by the Patna High Court which had reversed a session court’s decision to sentence him to life imprisonment.

The murder which occurred on the “holi festival” on March 25, 1978, was alleged to have been carried out with the help of a gun and other lethal weapons in Bihar’s Nalanda district.

A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Mukundakam Sharma also concurred with the view of the High Court that there were inaccuracies in the statements made by the eyewitnesses and the failure of the prosecution to examine the investigating officer and the autopsy doctor.

In this case, Prasad along with others accomplices allegedly murdered Sukhu Mahton, which according to one version was a sequel to the failure of the deceased to attend a “Satyanarayana Swamy vrath” held at the house of the accused. The sessions court while acquitting the others, convicted and sentenced Prasad to life imprisonment, but the High Court acquitted him of the charge.

Later, Kapil Deo Sinha, informant and purported eye-witness to the murder, filed an appeal in the apex court.

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Agreeing with the findings of the High Court, the apex court held that it was improper for the prosecution not to have examined the investigating officer who had filed the chargesheet and also the doctor who performed the postmortem on the deceased.

The apex court further pointed out that the statements of the eye-witnesses could not be believed as these were inconsistent.

For instance, while one of the witnesses claimed that they were singing holi songs when the murder occurred and he could not identify the accused as it was dark but another eye-witness claimed that they did not participate in the holi celebrations at all due to the murder.

The apex court pointed out that according to the prosecution, the attack took place in the evening.

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“Therefore, the family member could not have anticipated that in the evening there will be an attack and loss of life and therefore, they would not celebrate holi,” the apex court observed.

The apex court said there was no reason to interfere with the judgement of the high court.