ACHARAPARAMBATH PRADEEPAN AND ANR versus STATE OF KERALA

Citation: [2006] SUPP. 10 S.C.R. 1101 · Decided: 15-12-2006 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S.B. SINHA · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Judgment (excerpt)

\ 
ACHARAPARAMBATH PRADEEPAN AND ANR 
A 
v. 
STA TE OF KERALA 
DECEMBER 15, 2006 
[S.B. SINHA AND MARKANDEY KA TJU, JJ.] 
B 
Indian Penal Code-Sections 302 and 149-Unlawful assembly with 
common object of committing murder-Deceased allegedly assaulted by several 
accused while teaching in a class in school-Only one accused identified by C 
all of main prosecution eye witnesses either at Test Identification parade or 
at trial-Other accused identified only by some prosecution witnesses, and not 
by all, given benefit of doubt and acquitted-Conviction and sentencing of the 
one accused-Held: His case stood on a different footing-He was first to 
enter carrying iron rod in his hand and gave first blow on back of deceased-
Even if prosecution case that six persons had committed crime was ignored, D 
role played by him was witnessed by all child prosecution eye witnesses-
Their version withstood test of cross-e.wmination, was consistent and uniform, 
and corroborated each other as well as medical evidence and defense 
witness-However, as it could not be said to be a rarest of rare case 
warranting imposition of extreme punishment, death sentence converted to 
rigorous imprisonment of life. 
E 
Criminal Investigation: 
Conduct of-:-Descriptions of accused_given by child witnesses-Arrests 
made only after disclosure of their names by other witnesses whose statements 
taken after undue delay-Long time taken for arranging test identification F 
parade not explained and some of accused not identified therein-Held-
Accused were entitled to benefit of doubt. 
Identification of accused by child witnesses-Before Court and not in 
Test Identification Parade-Explanation given that accused was having beard G 
but in Test Identification Parade he was put in as a clean shaved person-
Acceptance of-Held-A Person may be identified with or without beard in 
different circumstances-Identification Could not be discarded as each one 
of identifying witnesses had sufficient time to see accused particularly when 
large number of injuries had been inflicted on the deceased-It was not case 
1101 
II 
1102 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. IO S.C.R. 
A of fitting glimpse of accused. 
Delay in examination of prosecution eye-witnesses by investigating 
officer-Effect of 
Held: Though such delay normally is looked down upon but each case 
B has to be considered on its own facts-Investigation officer noticed to have 
not done his best and investigated the case in slipshod manner-There was no 
reason to disbelieve testimonies of prosecution witnesses-Deffective 
investigation by itself may not lead to a conclusion that the accused is innocent. 
c 
Evidence: 
Appreciation of-Stating something for first time in Court-Effect of-
Held-lt is too much to expect of any person to say everything in his statement 
before police-Some improvements in testimony of a witness would not lead 
to rejection thereof in its entirety. 
D 
Child 
eye 
witnesses-Appreciation 
of-Held-
/I is for Court to decide that whether by reason of tender years, it considers 
that they are incapable of understanding questions put to them and of giving 
rational answers-If after careful scrutiny of their evidence court comes to 
conclusion that there is an impress of truth in it, there is no obstacle in 
E accepting their evidence-Section I 18 of the Indian Evidence Act. 
Appreciations of Witnesses-Delay in coming out with their story-Effect 
of-Held-Jn a case involving ghastly murder in school, witnesses must gather 
courage over a period of time to come out within their part of story-But this 
standard is inapplicable to witnesses who were members or sympathizers of 
F political parties and learned about incident early on same day, went to house 
of deceased where police officers were present, and inspite of talking to others 
about murder, had not given their statement to police-No reliance could be 
placed on testimony of such witnesses, more so as there was variation_ in their 
version as given in examination-in-chief and in cross-examination. 
G 
Appreciation ofChance witnesses-Held-Their evidence requires close 
H 
scrutiny. 
Appellants-accused were members of the Communist party of India. 
Deceased, a school teacher, was the state Vice President of Bhartiya Yuva 
Morcha. According to prosecution, on 1.12.1999, while deceased was teaching 
ACHARAPARAMBA TH PRADEEPAN v. STA TE OF KERALA 
1103 
in class VIB, the accused entered the class. Accused no. 2 (A2), accused No. A 
3 (A3) 

Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.