NDLI: The State of Odisha Vs. Banabihari Mohapatra and Anr.

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Penal Code 1860: ss.302/201 r/w s.34
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3
Case Type	Special Leave Petition
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Petition Dismissed
Headnote	Penal Code, 1860: ss.302/201 r/w s.34 – Prosecution case was that the victim-deceased was found dead in shop of accused with a swollen belly and deep burn injury on right foot and blood was oozing out of his mouth and nostrils – In the FIR lodged by complainant-wife of the deceased, she had stated that on the fateful day, the first accused-respondent had come to her house and told her that the deceased was lying motionless and not responding to calls and thereafter younger son of first accused also came and gave similar information – Complainant alleged that first accused and his son committed murder of her husband by applying electric shock after administering poisonous substances to him – As per post mortem report, cause of death was electric shock, suffered by the deceased within 24 hours from the time of examination – The post mortem doctor opined that the deceased was intoxicated with alcohol and the death was either accidental, or homicidal, but not suicidal – Acquittal by trial court – High Court dismissed state’s application for leave to appeal on the ground of delay of 41 days but after considering the merits of application for leave to appeal – State’s appeal against acquittal – Held: The mere fact that the deceased was lying dead at a room held by accused respondent No.1 and that the accused had informed the complainant that the deceased had been lying motionless and still, and not responding to shouts and calls, would not establish that the respondents murdered the deceased – The post mortem report suggests that the death could have been accidental – Of the nine prosecution witnesses, three witnesses were declared hostile by the prosecution – There were apparent inconsistencies, inaccuracies and inherent improbabilities in the statements of witnesses – Prosecution miserably failed to establish the guilt of the accused Respondents – The impugned judgment of the High Court dismissing the appeal on the ground of delay did not call for interference under Art.136 of the Constitution of India. Appeal against acquittal: An appeal against acquittal has always been on an altogether different pedestal from an appeal against conviction – In an appeal against acquittal, where the presumption of innocence in favour of the accused is reinforced, the appellate court would interfere with the order of acquittal only when there is perversity – In this case, it cannot be said that the reasons given by the High Court to reverse the conviction of the accused were flimsy, untenable or bordering on perverse appreciation of evidence. Criminal law: Case based on circumstantial evidence – Before a case against an accused can be said to be fully established on circumstantial evidence, the circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is to be drawn must fully be established and the facts so established should be consistent only with the hypothesis of guilt of the accused – There has to be a chain of evidence so complete, as not to leave any reasonable doubt for any conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused and must show that in all human probability, the act must have been done by the accused.
Judge	Hon'ble Ms. Justice Indira Banerjee
Neutral Citation	2021 INSC 85
Petitioner	The State Of Odisha
Respondent	Banabihari Mohapatra And Anr.
SCR	[2021] 1 S.C.R. 612
Judgement Date	2021-02-12
Case Number	1156

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The State of Odisha Vs. Banabihari Mohapatra and Anr.

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