NDLI: Rabindra Kumar Pal @ Dara Singh Vs. Republic of India

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	1860 - s. 302 Penal Code
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Dismissed
Headnote	Penal Code, 1860 - s. 302 - Rioting, arson and murder of three persons - Christian Missionary from Australia, engaged in propagating and preaching Christianity in the tribal area, burnt to death along with his two minor sons by 50- 60 miscreants - Victims also prevented from escaping from the vehicle - Conviction and sentence of 14 accused - High Court modifying death sentence awarded to A-1 to life imprisonment and upheld life imprisonment imposed on A-3 and acquitted the others - On appeal, held: Letters addressed by A-3 to the trial judge wherein he confessed his guilt, in the course of trial lend ample corroboration to his identification before the trial court by P~V-23, even through no I/P was conducted by Judicial Magistrate - A-3 also addressed a letter to his sister-in-law, inculpating himself and A-L- A-3 though denied the letters but it amounts to confession and lend support to the evidence in identification before the trial court for the first time - Testimony of witnesses that miscreants raised slogans in the name of A-1 which corroborates the identification before the trial court for the first time - All the witnesses mentioned about the blowing of whistle by A 1 - A-3 in his statement u/s. 313 Cr.P.C. admitted to have set fire to the vehicles and confessed his guilt - Abscondence of A-3 soon after the incident and avoiding of arrest, is a relevant conduct to prove his guilt - Death of the victims by setting fire by the miscreants cannot be ruled out - Even in the midst of uncertainties, witnesses specified the role of A-1 and A-3. However, more than 12 year having elapsed since the act A was committed, life sentence awarded by the High Court not enhanced - Conviction of A-1 and A-3 and the sentence of life imprisonment imposed on them by the High Court, maintained - As regards the other accused, testimony of the eye-witnesses about their identification before the trial court for the first time without corroboration by previous Test Identification Parade, not credible - In view of absence of acceptable materials and various infirmities in the prosecution case, order of acquittal of accused other than A-1 and A-2 upheld - Sentence/Sentencing - Evidence - Test identification parade.Identification - Photo identification and identification of the accused by the witnesses done for the first time before the trial court without being corroborated by Test Identification Parade or any other material - Evidentiary value - Held: Though such identification is permissible but cannot be given credence without further corroborative evidence - On facts, for many days, eye-witnesses never came forward before the IOs and the police personnel claiming that they had seen the occurrence - As such, their testimony about the identification of the accused other than A-1 and A-3 before the trial court for the first time without corroboration by previous TIP, not credible -As regards A-1 and A-3, they were identified which was also corroborated by the 'evidence of slogans given in their name and each one of the witnesses asserted the said aspect, thus, their identification can be relied upon - Test identification parade. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1963 - s. 164 - Recording of confessions and statements - Procedure to be followed by the Magistrate - Reiterated - On facts, procedural lapse on the part of the Judicial Magistrate in recording confessional statements - Accused in their confessional statements, made exculpatory statements - Thus, confessional statements with regard to accused other than A-1 and A-3, not admissible.Appeal - Appeal against acquittal - When two views are possible, the one in favour of the accused should be . A accepted - Presumption of innocence is a fundamental principle of criminal jurisprudence - On facts, absence of definite assertion from the prosecution side, about the specific role and involvement of the acquitted accused who are all poor tribals - Thus, not safe to convict them - Order of acquittal of these accused upheld - Criminal jurisprudence.Sentence/Sentencing - Conviction u/s. 302 /PC - Award of Punishment - Held: Normal rule is to award punishment of life imprisonment - Punishment of death should be resorted to only for the rarest of rare cases which is to be examined with reference to the facts and circumstances of each case - Court to take note of the aggravating as well as mitigating circumstances - Penal Code, 1860.Secularism - Concept of - Held: State will have no religion - It shall treat all religions and religious groups equally and with equal respect without in any manner interfering with their individual right of religion, faith and worship - There is no justification for interfering in someone's religious belief by any means - Constitution of India, 1950.
Judge	Honble Mr. Justice P. Sathasivam
Neutral Citation	2011 INSC 63
Petitioner	Rabindra Kumar Pal @ Dara Singh
Respondent	Republic Of India
SCR	[2011] 1 S.C.R. 929
Judgement Date	2011-01-21
Case Number	1366

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