MANOJ & ORS versus STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

Citation: [2022] 9 S.C.R. 452 · Decided: 20-05-2022 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: UDAY UMESH LALIT · Disposal: Case Partly allowed

Cited by 10 judgment(s) · cites 59 · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2022] 9 S.C.R.
MANOJ & ORS.
v.
STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH
(Criminal Appeal Nos. 248-250 of 2015)
MAY 20, 2022
[UDAY UMESH LALIT, S. RAVINDRA BHAT AND
BELA. M. TRIVEDI, JJ.]
Sentence / Sentencing – Penal Code, 1860 – ss.302, 397 –
Triple murder, in course of robbery – Three accused – Trial Court
convicted the accused-appellants u/s. 302 IPC and imposed death
penalty on them – High Court confirmed the conviction – On appeal,
held: Both the trial Court and High Court failed to provide an
effective sentencing hearing to the accused at the relevant stage
which is a right u/s 235(2) CrPC – The crime that the appellants
were held guilty of, was heinous, and its execution was vicious and
cruel – The repeated stabbings of two of the deceased almost in a
frenzy on the one hand and the defenceless state of the victims, on
the other, highlights that the accused were willing to go ahead with
their plans of robbing after eliminating the three women – At the
same time, the young age of the accused at the time of the incident
and lack of criminal antecedents cannot be lost sight of – Prosecution
case is silent on any real motive that may have instigated or moved
the three accused to have pre-planned for the commission of murder
other than robbery itself – Death sentence of all three accused
commuted to life imprisonment for a minimum term of 25 years –
Arms Act – s.27.
Criminal Trial – Death Sentence – When to be awarded –
Discussed – A two-step process has to be followed to determine
whether a case deserves death sentence – Firstly, that the case
belongs to the ‘rarest of rare’ category, and secondly, that the option
of life imprisonment would simply not suffice – For the first step,
the aggravating and mitigating circumstances would have to be
identified and considered equally – For the second, the court has
to consider whether the alternative of life imprisonment was
unquestionable foreclosed as the sentencing aim of reformation was
unachievable, for which the State must provide material.
452
[2022] 9 S.C.R. 452
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Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – Test Identification
Parade – TIPs are meant to test witness veracity and their capability
to identify unknown persons – TIPs should be conducted at the
earliest possible time to eliminate the chance of accused being shown
to witnesses before the identification parade, which might otherwise
affect such witnesses’ memory – No provision of law enables an
accused to claim TIP as a matter of right – Delay or failure in holding
TIP ipso facto does not render the evidence inadmissible or
unacceptable, however it affects the credibility and weight attached
to such identification.
Evidence Act, 1872 – Circumstantial Evidence – Principles
applicable to appreciation of evidence – The correct approach of
courts trying criminal cases involving circumstantial evidence should
be that the circumstances alleged, be fully established – All the facts
so established should be consistent only with hypothesis of the guilt
of the accused – Circumstances should be conclusive and of such
tendency that they should be such as to exclude every hypothesis
but the one proposed to be proved.
Criminal Trial – Practice and Procedures – Omission of
prosecution witness to state a fact – Effect of: The omission of some
of the prosecution witnesses to mention a particular fact, or
corroborate something, which is deposed to by other witnesses does
not ipso facto favour an accused – However, more important is
whether the omission to depose about a fact is so fundamental that
the prosecution version becomes shaky and incredulous.
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – s. 24 – Role of Public
Prosecutor in Criminal Trial – Public prosecutor occupies a statutory
office of high regard – They are not part of the investigating agency,
rather an independent statutory authority who serve as officers to
the court – The role of the public prosecutor is intrinsically dedicated
to conducting a fair trial and not for a ‘thirst to reach the case in
conviction’.
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – ss.172, 173 –
Maintenance of case diary mandatory – Police have the power to
investigate freely and fairly, in the course of which, it is mandatory
to maintain a diary where the day-to-day proceedings are to be
recorded with specific mention of time of events, places visited,
departure and reporting back, statements recorded, etc – Criminal
MANOJ & ORS. v. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH
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