LALLU RAM AND ORS. versus STATE OF U.P. AND ANR.

Citation: [1985] 1 S.C.R. 862 · Decided: 27-09-1984 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: Y.V. CHANDRACHUD · Disposal: Dismissed
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Judgment (excerpt)

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862 
LALLU RAM AND ORS. 
v. 
STATE OF U.P. AND ANR. 
September 27, 1984 
[Y. V. CHANDRACHUD, C. J., E. S. VENKATARAMIAH AND 
A. VARADARAJAN, JJ.J 
Administration of Justice-When a life convict appeals that he was convicted 
for a murder that never was, the Supreme Court can reconsider the question 
seriously and cal/for further reports for doing ful/t!r ji.rstice-Acquittals-Attempts 
to secure false acquittals by forginr a fictitious docun1ents deprecated-Constitu-
tion of India, 1950 Article 136. 
The appellants were convicted and ~cntenccd to '>Uffcr imprisonment for 
life for the murder of a person by the name of Kunwar Bahadur in the village 
ofBamori Kalan, District Jalaun on July 18, 19'71. Based on a news item 
carried by a Hindi daily called 'Nav Bharat' on June 3, 19i3, that the dead body 
of one Kunwar Bahadur Singh was found in Vidisha in suspicious circumstances 
and that a letter purported to have been written by one Kunwar Bahadur Singh 
was recovered from the person of the deceased. the appellants filed a petition 
before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, praying for their acquittals conten-
ding that Kunwar Bahadur Singh for whose murder they were convicted in 1971 
was alive for twelve years thereafter and, therefore, itheir conviction was illegal. 
The High Court dismissed the petition. Hence the appeal by Special Leave of 
the Court. 
Dismissing the appeal, the Court, 
HELD ; 1 : 1. When a person convicted of murder raised the question that 
he has material to ·show that he was convicted for a murder that had never 
taken place, as, for C;\an1ple, by showing that the person who was alleged to 
have been murdered is in fact aHve the Supreme Court has the jurisdiction, in 
appropriate cases, to call for further data from the concerned authorities in 
order to examine-the contention of the convict. This jurisdiction on which the 
Supreme Court can exercise, though with circumspection, is in order to do 
complete justice in any matter which is pending before it or which has been dis· 
posed of by it. 
[863G-H, 864A] 
1 : 2. The instant case, however, is an example of what an incredible arnollnt 
of ingenuity is exercised by the people to secure fal::;e acquittals. The two reports 
called for from the District Magistrate, Vidisha, and the two photographs of 
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tALLURAM v. li.P. STATE (Chandrachud, CJ.) 
863 
the two dead bodies found in 1971 and 1983, respectively make it clear that 
(t) Kunwar Bahadur Singh for whose murder the appellants were convicted 
thirteen years ago is not the same person whose dead body wa<; found on June 
2 1983 in Vidisha and (2) The letter which was found on the person of the dead 
b~dy on June 2, 1983 ·is.a forged and fictitious document manufactured for the 
purpose of obtaining false acquittals. 
[863D, 864E, 865E-FJ 
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 476 
of 1984. 
Appeal by Special leave from the Judgment and Order dated 
the 6th December, 1983 of the Allahabad High Court in Appeal No. 
611 of 1976. 
Dr. N. M. Ghatate and C.K. Ratnaparkhi for the Appellants. 
Manoj Swarup Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Sanghi for the 
Respondents. 
The Jud~ment of the Court was delivered by 
CHANDRACHUD, C.J. It is necessary to record this short order 
so that it may be known as to what an· incredible amount of 
ingenuity is exercised by the people to secure false acquittals. 
A person by the name of Kunwar Bahadur was murdered in 
the village of Bamori Kalan, District Jalaun, on July 18, 1971. The 
appellants were convicted for that murder and were sentenced to 
suffer imprisonment for life. 
On June 2, 1983, dead body was found in Vidisha, Madhya 
Pradesh. A letter purported to have been written by one Kunwar 
Bahadur was recovered from the person of the deceased. 
On the 
next day, June 3, 1983, a Hindi daily called 'Nav Bharat' carried a 
news item to the effect that the dead body of one Kunwar Bahadur 
Singh was found in Vidisha in suspicious circumstances and that the 
letter which was recovered from the person of the deceased showed 
that he was repentent. This news item is alleged to have come to the 
notice of the relatives of the appellants, who contacted the Vidisha 
police. The contention of the appellants is that Kanwar Bahadur, 
for whose murder they were convicted in 1971 was alive for 12 years 
thereafter and that his dead body was found on June 2, 1983. 
By 
this appeal, they pray for an order of acquittal, or rather, for an 
orde
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