SARDAR HUSSAIN & ANR. versus STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

Citation: [1988] SUPP. 2 S.C.R. 245 · Decided: 05-08-1988 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: G.L. OZA · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Judgment (excerpt)

SARDAR HUSSAIN & ANR. 
A 
v. 
STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH 
AUGUST 5, 1988 
[G.L. OZA AND K. JAGANNATHA SHETTY, JJ.] 
B 
Indian Penal Code, 1860: Sections 210, 302 and 364--Appellants 
convicted by Trial Court-High Court 'confirming conviction-On 
appeal Supreme Court acquitting accused holding that circumstantial 
evidence falls short of required standard on all material particulars. 
The prosecution case was: the appellants, who were of 'had 
character, had an.evil eye on the lands belonging to the younger brother 
of PW I, in furtherance of which they got a fraudulent sale deed 
executed and murdered him in order to eliminate the possibility of the 
fraud being detected. Suspecting foul play of the appellants, PW I 
lodged an FIR. At the instance of appellant No. 2, who was first 
arres!ed_, a dead body was recovered from a water lo~~ed pond and was 
identified to be that of PW l's younger brother, on the basis of a shirt 
and a· tahmad. The doctor, who conducted the post mortem, could not 
give the cause of death or its duration. 
c 
D 
TheJ!p_pellants were convicted and sentenced under ss. 302, 364 _ E 
and 210,I_PC-Iiy the trial Judge. On appeal, the High Court maintained 
the convlction and sentence of appellant No. I but reduced the same of 
appelfant No·. 2 to one under s. 201. 
Allowing the ·appeals, 
HELD: The evidence against the appellants is purely circumstan-
tial. But the circumstantial evidence falls short of the required standard 
on all material particulars. The conviction of the appellants cannot, 
therefore, be sustained. [247H, 249A] · 
F 
There is 'no satisfactory evidence that the sale deed in question was 
G 
executed by somebody impersonating the deceased, Though PW 12, 
who was identified by PW II, scribe of the sale deed, as the person who 
impersonated the deceased, deposed that he had put his thumb impres-
sion on the sale deed, the thumb impression of the executant and the 
admitted thumb impression of PW 12 were not sent for expert opinion. 
Nothing could be elicited from, nor any question was put to PW 20 to 
H 
245 
246 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1988] Supp. 2 S.C.R. 
A corroborate the version of PW 11, as to the contents of the sale deed or 
the identity of the persons who accompanied him to PW 11 or those whO' 
put the thumb impression on the sale deed, [2488-D] 
B 
c 
The evidence on record is equally unsatisfactory as to identifica-
tion of the dead body. Post-mortem was done more than three months 
from the date of alleged disappearance of the deceased. The doctor who 
conducted the post-mortem stated that it was skeleton of a young adult 
male and was unable to give the cause of death or when the death took 
place owing to the condition of the body. The two panch witnesses for 
the recovery of the dead body could not identity the clothes recovered 
from the dead body as belonging to the deceased. Though clothes were 
said to have been identified by PW 1 and his wife, a perusal of PW l's 
evidence would indicate that the identification was nothing but farce. 
The body was not recovered at his instance. He could not have seen the 
dead body with the clothes, as these were removed, washed, dried and 
packed separately with the seal of the panchas. He was called to the 
D Court only for the identification of the clothes and body. He stated that 
the dead body by appearance looked like that of his brother. He could 
identify the clothes by a chit and a knot on them. The witnesses, who 
were stated to have seen the deceased going with the appellant No. l 
and his father-in-law did not speak anything about the dress which the 
deceased was wearing at that time. PW l's evidence could not be 
E 
H 
believed since he and the deceased were livin~ separately, and he could 
not have seen illl that he had stated in evidence. [248E, G-H, 249A-B, D-H] 
Conviction and sentence of appellants set aside. They are acquit-
ted of all charges. [250A] 
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal 
No. 289 of 1978 were Cri. Appeal No. 403 of 1978. 
From the Judgment and Order dated 10.5.1978 of the Allahabad 
High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 213 of 1973. 
S.K. Dhingra and K.B. Rohtagi for the Appellant in Crl. A. No. 
289of1978. 
R.K. Jain, Rakesh Khanna and R.P. Singh for the Appellant in 
Crl. A. No. 403 of 1978. 
Prithvi Raj Singh and Dalveer Bhandari for the Respondent. 
J 
SARDAR HUSSAIN v. STATE OF U.P. [SHETTY,. J.) 
247 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
JAGANNATHA SHETTY, J, This appeal

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