NDLI: Pradeep Vs. The State of Haryana

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	302 r/w s.34 IPC IPC and ss. 449 324 r/w s.34
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	Oaths Act, 1969 (44 of 1969) Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Allowed
Headnote	Evidence – Testimony of chi ld witness – Sole basis ofconviction – When not proper – Appellant along with co-accusedwas convicted for the offences punishable u/s. 302 r/w s.34, IPCand ss. 449, 324 r/w s.34, IPC based on the testimony of PW-1,minor son of the deceased – Held: In view of the requirement ofs.118, Evidence Act, the Trial Judge was under a duty to record hisopinion that the child is able to understand the questions put to himand that he is able to give rational answers – Trial Judge must alsorecord his opinion that the child witness understands the duty ofspeaking the truth and state why he is of the opinion that the childunderstands the duty of speaking the truth – In the present case,the Sessions Judge did not do his duty – The preliminary examinationof the minor is very sketchy – Only three questions were put to himon the basis of which Sessions Judge came to the conclusion thatthe witness was capable of giving answers to each and every question– On facts, after closely scrutinising the evidence of PW-1, thepossibility of him being tutored cannot be ruled out – There is nosupport or corroboration to the testimony of PW-1, apart from otherdeficiencies in the prosecution case – Not safe to base the convictiononly on the testimony of PW-1 which does not inspire confidence –Impugned judgments of the High Court and the Trial set aside –Appellant acquitted – Penal Code, 1860 – ss. 34, 302, 449, 324 –Evidence Act, 1872 – s.118 – Oaths Act, 1969 – s.4.Evidence – Testimony of Child Witness – Corroboration of –Held: Corroboration of the testimony of a child witness is not a rulebut a measure of caution and prudence – A child witness of tenderage is easily susceptible to tutoring – However, that by itself is noground to reject the evidence of a child witness – Court must makecareful scrutiny of the evidence of a child witness – It must apply itsmind to the question whether there is a possibility of the child witness being tutored – Therefore, scrutiny of the evidence of a child witnessis required to be made by the Court with care and caution – CriminalLaw.Evidence – Testimony of Child Witness – Duty of Courts –Held: The role of the Judge who records the evidence is very crucial– He has to make a proper preliminary examination of the minor byputting appropriate questions to ascertain whether the minor iscapable of understanding the questions put to him and is able togive rational answers – It is advisable to record the preliminaryquestions and answers so that the Appellate Court can go into thecorrectness of the opinion of the Trial Court – Criminal Law.
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice Abhay.S. Oka
Neutral Citation	2023 INSC 599
Petitioner	Pradeep
Respondent	The State Of Haryana
SCR	[2023] 10 S.C.R. 1021
Judgement Date	2023-07-05
Case Number	553

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