LexNAGARAJ REDDY versus STATE OF TAMIL NADU
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[2023] 14 S.C.R. 457 : 2023 INSC 269 457 CASE DETAILS NAGARAJ REDDY v. STATE OF TAMIL NADU (Criminal Appeal No. 886 of 2023) MARCH 21, 2023 [B. R. GAVAI AND VIKRAM NATH, JJ.] HEADNOTES Issue for consideration: Concurrent conviction of the appellant- accused No.1 for off ences punishable u/ss.302, 341 IPC primarily on the basis of evidence of PW-1, an interested witness, if justifi ed. Evidence – Interested witness – Previous enmity – Conviction based solely on the testimony of interested witness, without corroboration of such testimony – Legality: Held: PW-1 is an interested witness, being the brother of the deceased – He admitted that there existed previous enmity between the parties wherein the deceased and his wife-PW-3 were injured after a scuffl e between the parties and the trial with regard to that incident was ongoing – Previous enmity is a double-edged sword – On the one hand, it provides for the motive and on the other hand, the possibility of false implication cannot be ruled out – PW-1 was found to be unreliable by the trial court insofar as the other accused are concerned, except accused Nos.1 and 3 – Other witnesses, including PW-3, wife of the deceased, only stated that all of the accused persons came to their home in the village and exhorted that they had killed the deceased – On the basis of very same evidence, all the accused, except accused No.1-appellant and accused No.3 were acquitted by the trial court – High Court disbelieved the testimony of PW-1 insofar as accused No.3 is concerned and he was acquitted on the ground that he was arrested by the police within few days after the incident (which happened on 14.09.2004), whereas the arrest is shown on 22.09.2004 – Reasoning given by the High Court in distinguishing the case 458 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 14 S.C.R. of the present appellant as against accused No.3 is totally perfunctory– Appellant’s conviction could not have been based solely on the testimony of PW-1, without corroboration – Impugned judgment quashed and set aside – Appellant acquitted of all the charges levelled against him – Penal Code, 1860 – ss.302, 341. [Paras 9-13, 15, 16 and 18] LIST OF CITATIONS AND OTHER REFERENCES Khema alias Khem Chandra etc. vs. State of Uttar Pradesh 2022 SCC-OnLine SC 991: Vadivelu Thevar vs. State of Madras [1957] SCR 981 – relied on. OTHER CASE DETAILS INCLUDING IMPUGNED ORDER AND APPEARANCES CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 886 of 2023. From the Judgment and Order dated 31.03.2022 of the High Court of Judicature at Madras in CRLA No.34 of 2019. Appearances: Venugopala Gowda, Sr. Adv., Shiva Krishnamurti, Balaji Srinivasan, Advs. for the Appellant. Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., Shobhit Dwivedi, Ms. Vaidehi Rastogi, Advs. for the Respondent. JUDGMENT / ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT B. R. GAVAI, J. 1. This appeal challenges the judgment and order dated 31st March 2022, passed by the High Court of Judicature at Madras in Criminal Appeal No. 34 of 2019, wherein the High Court dismissed the appeal preferred by accused No. 1, appellant herein, against the judgment and order of conviction dated 20th December 2018, passed by the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Hosur (hereinafter referred to as ‘trial court’), in S. C. No. 7 of 2007, for the off ences punishable under Sections 302 and 341 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short ‘IPC’), sentencing him to undergo life imprisonment. 459 2. The case of the prosecution in a nut shell is as follows: 2.1. One Rajappa (the deceased) along with all other accused persons, including the appellant herein, hail from Oozhiyalam village in Krishnagiri district. It is pertinent to note that the deceased and the accused persons belong to diff erent communities. Radha (PW-3), wife of Rajappa, was the president of the local Outreach Women Self Help Group. 2.2. A portion of land in Oozhiyalam village was purchased by the aforesaid Self Help Group. To build a compound wall around the said land, a contract for building the same was given to the people hailing from the deceased’s community. Such an act infl amed tensions between the two communities and several quarrels ensued, one of which led to criminal cases being registered against both the parties in the Bagalur Police Station. Both the parties were facing prosecution in the Court of Judicial Magistrate, Hosur. 2.3. While the situation stood thus, Rajappa, on 14th September 2004 at around 10 AM, l
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