NDLI: R. Sreenivasa Vs. State of Karnataka

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Evidence
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) Supreme Court (enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 (28 of 1970)
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3 Referred Case 4 Referred Case 5
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Allowed
Headnote	Issue for consideration: High Court if justifi ed in reversing theacquittal order passed by the Trial Court qua the appellant-accused acquittinghim of off ences u/ss.302 and 201, IPC by which it held that the prosecutionhad failed to prove that the deceased was last seen in the company of theappellant.Evidence – Circumstantial evidence – Last seen theory – Whencannot be invoked:Held: The ‘last seen’ theory can be invoked only when the samestands proved beyond reasonable doubt – In the present case, there is nodefi nitive evidence of last seen and that theory itself is in doubt – Also,there is a long time-gap between the alleged last seen and the recovery ofthe body – Further, there is major discrepancy in the charge framed andthe statement of the witnesses- the specifi c allegation that co-accused wasthe one who had taken away the deceased from his house, whereas duringdeposition the deceased’s wife and his brother stated that it was the appellantwho had taken away the deceased is enough to raise doubts with regard tothe veracity and authenticity of such statements – Also, the fact that thedeceased, late at night, agreed to go to the house of the appellant, when seenin the backdrop of the allegation that there was strong animosity betweenthe two, appears to be highly improbable – Further, it does not appear thatthe deceased’s family took any steps to fi nd out as to where the deceasedhad gone despite being missing for more than two days – The deceased’swife even testifi ed that relations between the parties were cordial, and didnot hint at animosity – Thus, in the absence of other corroborative pieces of evidence, it cannot be said that the chain of circumstances is so completethat the only inference that could be drawn is the guilt of the appellant –Unsafe to sustain the conviction of the appellant on such evidence, where thechain is incomplete – Presumption of innocence is in favour of the accusedand when doubts emanate, the benefi t accrues to the accused, and not theprosecution – Impugned judgment set aside. [Paras 13, 15, 16 and 17]Practice and Procedure – Acquittal – Interference by appellateCourt:Held: An appellate court, in the case of an acquittal, must bear inmind that there is a double presumption in favour of the accused – Whentwo views are possible, the one favouring the accused is to be leaned on –Criminal Law. [Para 18]
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah
Neutral Citation	2023 INSC 803
Petitioner	R. Sreenivasa
Respondent	State Of Karnataka
SCR	[2023] 12 S.C.R. 55
Judgement Date	2023-09-06
Case Number	859

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

R. Sreenivasa Vs. State of Karnataka

Please Log-in to view this content

State of Karnataka Vs. Shariff

State of Karnataka Vs. Shantappa Madivalappa Galapuji & Ors.

Kumar @ Shiva Kumar Vs. State of Karnataka

R. S. Raghunath Vs. State of Karnataka and Anr.

Narayanamurthy Vs. State of Karnataka and Anr.

Muralidhar @ Gidda & Anr. Vs. State of Karnataka

Smt. Chintambaramma & Anr. Vs. State of Karnataka

Kashibai & Ors. Vs. The State of Karnataka

State of Karnataka Vs. M. N. Ramdas

R. Sreenivasa Vs. State of Karnataka

R. Sreenivasa Vs. State of Karnataka

Please Log-in to view this content

Similar Documents

State of Karnataka Vs. Shariff

State of Karnataka Vs. Shantappa Madivalappa Galapuji & Ors.

Kumar @ Shiva Kumar Vs. State of Karnataka

R. S. Raghunath Vs. State of Karnataka and Anr.

Narayanamurthy Vs. State of Karnataka and Anr.

Muralidhar @ Gidda & Anr. Vs. State of Karnataka

Smt. Chintambaramma & Anr. Vs. State of Karnataka

Kashibai & Ors. Vs. The State of Karnataka

State of Karnataka Vs. M. N. Ramdas

R. Sreenivasa Vs. State of Karnataka