{"id":340049,"date":"2025-01-30T13:00:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T07:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=340049"},"modified":"2025-02-01T09:53:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T04:23:50","slug":"sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court upholds Trial Court\u2019s decision acquitting 3 Constables in 20 year old Murder case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Supreme Court:<\/span> In a set of two criminal appeals against Uttarakhand High Court’s decisions, whereby the High Court confirmed the Head Constable’s conviction and sentence for the offence punishable under Section 302<\/a> read with Section 34<\/a> of the Penal Code, 1860<\/a> (‘IPC’) and Section 27(1)<\/a> of the Arms Act, 1959<\/a> (‘Arms Act’) and allowed the State’s appeal against the acquittal of constables for an offence punishable under Section 302<\/a> read with Section 34<\/a> of the IPC<\/a>, the Division Bench of BR Gavai*<\/span> and Augustine George Masih, JJ. allowed the appeal and upheld the Trial Court’s decision. The Bench set aside the High Court’s decision reiterating that the prosecution failed to place any evidence to show that the three Constables had a common intention with the Head Constable to shoot the deceased.<\/p>\n

Background<\/h3>\n

The SHO of the Police Station, Rishikesh received information that illegal liquor was being smuggled in a Maruti Car. The Head Constable of the Police Station (‘accused 1) along with the other accused Constables set out to intercept the aforementioned Maruti car. The Head Constable attempted to stop the car by overtaking it and indicating to the driver of the Maruti car to halt. However, when the driver of the Maruti car failed to stop his car, the Head Constable fired a single shot from the 0.38 bore revolver. The shot hit the co-passenger seated in the front seat of the Maruti car in her temporal region, eventually leading to her death.<\/p>\n

Corollary to this incident, a written complaint was lodged alleging that his wife was sitting in the front passenger seat and his sister and daughter were sitting in the rear seats. He alleged that the occupants of the Indica car who were dressed in police uniforms, indicated to the complainant to stop his car. However, when the complainant failed to comply, a bullet was fired by one of them which hit his wife.<\/p>\n

The Trial Court convicted the Head Constable for an offence punishable under Section 302<\/a> read with Section 34<\/a> of the IPC<\/a> and Section 27(1)<\/a> of the Arms Act<\/a> and sentenced him to imprisonment for life while acquitting the three constables since the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The Head Constable preferred two criminal appeals before the High Court against the order of his conviction and sentence. The State also preferred a criminal appeal before the High Court against the acquittal of the three Constables.<\/p>\n

The High Court by the impugned judgment dismissed the criminal appeals preferred by the Head Constable and allowed the criminal appeal preferred by the State. During the hearing of the appeals, the Head Constable had passed away.<\/p>\n

Analysis and Decision<\/h3>\n

On the scope of interference in an appeal against acquittal, the Bench relied on Babu Sahebagouda Rudragoudar<\/span> v. State of Karnataka<\/span>, (2024) 8 SCC 149<\/a>, wherein, it was settled that the interference with the finding of acquittal recorded by the Trial Judge would be warranted by the High Court only if the judgment of acquittal suffers from patent perversity; that the same is based on a misreading\/omission to consider material evidence on record; and that no two reasonable views are possible and only the view consistent with the guilt of the accused is possible from the evidence available on record.<\/p>\n

The Court perused the Trial Court’s decision and the findings recorded therein resulting to the acquittal of the three Constables. The Court noted the following:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    The three Constables were in the car and the Head Constable was senior to them, and that they were under the command of their senior officer;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    One of the Constables had admitted this aspect and was driving the car under the orders of his superior officer;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    The remaining two Constables had raised a plea of alibi, which was based on certain entries in the General Diary;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    From the evidence of P.W.9 as well as the identification memo prepared by the Executive Magistrate, it was clear that only one Constable could be identified, and that too only by one witness;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  5. \n

    That the identification of the accused by only one witness was not sufficient to come to a conclusion of guilt against the accused.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Court also noted that the High Court allowed the State’s appeal on the ground that the remaining three accused\/ Constables were sitting in the same vehicle along with Head Constable and this was sufficient to convict them with the aid of Section 34<\/a> of the IPC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    The Court stated that-<\/p>\n

    It is a settled principle of law that for convicting the accused with the aid of Section 34<\/a> of the IPC<\/a> the prosecution must establish prior meetings of minds. It must be established that all the accused had preplanned and shared a common intention to commit the crime with the accused who has actually committed the crime. It must be established that the criminal act has been done in furtherance of the common intention of all the accused.<\/p>\n

    Hence, the Court said that in the present case, as concluded by the Trial Court concluded that the prosecution failed to place on record any evidence to show that the three Constables had a common intention with Head Constable before the shooting at the deceased resulting in her death, the appeals were allowed.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \n

    CASE DETAILS<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n
    \n

    Citation:<\/span>
    2025 SCC OnLine SC 176<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    Appellants :<\/span>
    Constable 907 Surendra Singh<\/p>\n

    Respondents :<\/span>
    State of Uttarakhand<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Advocates who appeared in this case<\/p>\n

    For Petitioner(s):<\/span>
    Mr. Atul Kumar, AOR Ms. Sweety Singh, Adv. Ms. Archana Kumari, Adv. Mr. Rahul Pandey, Adv. Mr. Harsh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Sudipta Singha Roy, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Raj, Adv. Mr. Avdhesh K Singh, Adv. Mr. Devadatt Kamat, Sr. Adv. Mr. Munindra Dvivedi, Adv. Ms. Divya Bhalla, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Gulab Inamdar, Adv. Mr. Revanta Solanki, Adv. Mr. Hruday Bajentri, Adv. Ms. B. Vijayalakshmi Menon, AOR<\/p>\n

    For Respondent(s):<\/span>
    Mr. Kaushalpati Gautam, A.A.G. Mr. Akshat Kumar, AOR Mr. Advitiya Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    CORAM :<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
    \n

    \"BR
    BR Gavai, J.<\/span><\/img><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    \"Augustine
    Augustine George Masih, J.<\/span><\/img><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    Buy Penal Code, 1860   HERE<\/a><\/h3>\n

    \"penal<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    “It must be established that all the accused had preplanned and shared a common intention to commit the crime with the accused who has actually committed the crime.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67517,"featured_media":340062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[78020,58527,44180,78018,78019,30765,30934,5363],"class_list":["post-340049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-supremecourt","tag-acquittal-in-murder","tag-justice-augustine-george-masih","tag-justice-br-gavai","tag-meeting-of-minds-under-section-34","tag-murder-case-against-constable","tag-section-302-ipc","tag-section-34-ipc","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nSC upholds Trial Court's decision acquitting 3 Constables in Murder case | SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"'Prosecution failed to prove prior meeting of minds'; SC upheld Trial Court's decision acquitting 3 Constables in Murder case\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court upholds Trial Court\u2019s decision acquitting 3 Constables in 20 year old Murder case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"'Prosecution failed to prove prior meeting of minds'; SC upheld Trial Court's decision acquitting 3 Constables in Murder case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SCC Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-30T07:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-01T04:23:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"886\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"590\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Supreme Court upholds Trial Court\u2019s decision acquitting 3 Constables in 20 year old Murder case\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84913f82186a8dea042dc300d5751624\"},\"headline\":\"Supreme Court upholds Trial Court\u2019s decision acquitting 3 Constables in 20 year old Murder case\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-30T07:30:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-01T04:23:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1009,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Acquittal in murder\",\"Justice Augustine George Masih\",\"Justice BR Gavai\",\"Meeting of minds under Section 34\",\"Murder case against Constable\",\"Section 302 IPC\",\"Section 34 IPC\",\"Supreme Court\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Case Briefs\",\"Supreme Court\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/\",\"name\":\"SC upholds Trial Court's decision acquitting 3 Constables in Murder case | SCC Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-30T07:30:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-01T04:23:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84913f82186a8dea042dc300d5751624\"},\"description\":\"'Prosecution failed to prove prior meeting of minds'; SC upheld Trial Court's decision acquitting 3 Constables in Murder case\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.webp\",\"width\":886,\"height\":590,\"caption\":\"Acquittal of Constable in murder\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Supreme Court upholds Trial Court\u2019s decision acquitting 3 Constables in 20 year old Murder case\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"SCC Times\",\"description\":\"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84913f82186a8dea042dc300d5751624\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d822f35f9fcd11386aa47345cde7945e45a64da7205eebe9784f21d0cd223603?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d822f35f9fcd11386aa47345cde7945e45a64da7205eebe9784f21d0cd223603?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d822f35f9fcd11386aa47345cde7945e45a64da7205eebe9784f21d0cd223603?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/author\\\/scc-online-editor\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SC upholds Trial Court's decision acquitting 3 Constables in Murder case | SCC Times","description":"'Prosecution failed to prove prior meeting of minds'; SC upheld Trial Court's decision acquitting 3 Constables in Murder case","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Supreme Court upholds Trial Court\u2019s decision acquitting 3 Constables in 20 year old Murder case","og_description":"'Prosecution failed to prove prior meeting of minds'; SC upheld Trial Court's decision acquitting 3 Constables in Murder case","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/","og_site_name":"SCC Times","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/","article_published_time":"2025-01-30T07:30:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-01T04:23:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":886,"height":590,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Supreme Court upholds Trial Court\u2019s decision acquitting 3 Constables in 20 year old Murder case","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/84913f82186a8dea042dc300d5751624"},"headline":"Supreme Court upholds Trial Court\u2019s decision acquitting 3 Constables in 20 year old Murder case","datePublished":"2025-01-30T07:30:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-01T04:23:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/"},"wordCount":1009,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.webp","keywords":["Acquittal in murder","Justice Augustine George Masih","Justice BR Gavai","Meeting of minds under Section 34","Murder case against Constable","Section 302 IPC","Section 34 IPC","Supreme Court"],"articleSection":["Case Briefs","Supreme Court"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/","name":"SC upholds Trial Court's decision acquitting 3 Constables in Murder case | SCC Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.webp","datePublished":"2025-01-30T07:30:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-01T04:23:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/84913f82186a8dea042dc300d5751624"},"description":"'Prosecution failed to prove prior meeting of minds'; SC upheld Trial Court's decision acquitting 3 Constables in Murder case","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.webp","width":886,"height":590,"caption":"Acquittal of Constable in murder"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/01\/30\/sc-upholds-trial-court-decision-acquitting-3-constables-in-murder-case\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Supreme Court upholds Trial Court\u2019s decision acquitting 3 Constables in 20 year old Murder case"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/","name":"SCC Times","description":"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/84913f82186a8dea042dc300d5751624","name":"Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d822f35f9fcd11386aa47345cde7945e45a64da7205eebe9784f21d0cd223603?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d822f35f9fcd11386aa47345cde7945e45a64da7205eebe9784f21d0cd223603?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d822f35f9fcd11386aa47345cde7945e45a64da7205eebe9784f21d0cd223603?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Editor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/author\/scc-online-editor\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Acquittal-of-Constable-in-murder.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":273095,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/09\/06\/murder-convict-sentence-reduced-to-that-already-undergoe-less-than-life-imprisonment-imperssible-supreme-court-legal-research-criminal-law-updates-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":340049,"position":0},"title":"Explained| Can sentence of a murder convict be reduced to sentence already undergone which was less than life imprisonment?\u00a0","author":"Prachi Bhardwaj","date":"September 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court: In a murder case, where the Madhya Pradesh High Court had reduced the sentence to sentence already undergone which was less than imprisonment for life, the bench of MR Shah* and Krishna Murari, JJ has held that such order is contrary to Section 302 IPC as there cannot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Explained-Can-sentence-of-a-murder-convict-be-reduced-to-sentence-already-undergone-which-was-less-than-life-imprisonment-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Explained-Can-sentence-of-a-murder-convict-be-reduced-to-sentence-already-undergone-which-was-less-than-life-imprisonment-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Explained-Can-sentence-of-a-murder-convict-be-reduced-to-sentence-already-undergone-which-was-less-than-life-imprisonment-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Explained-Can-sentence-of-a-murder-convict-be-reduced-to-sentence-already-undergone-which-was-less-than-life-imprisonment-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Explained-Can-sentence-of-a-murder-convict-be-reduced-to-sentence-already-undergone-which-was-less-than-life-imprisonment-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":287201,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2023\/03\/18\/supreme-court-remarks-judgment-by-chhattisgarh-high-court-as-sketchy-acquits-murder-convict-legal-research-legal-news-updates\/","url_meta":{"origin":340049,"position":1},"title":"Supreme Court finds Chhattisgarh High Court’s judgment \u2018Sketchy\u2019; Acquits murder convict in a 20-year-old case","author":"Apoorva","date":"March 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court said that the cherished principles or golden threads of proof beyond reasonable doubt which runs through the web of our law should not be stretched morbidly which was done by the Courts below.","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sketchy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MicrosoftTeams-image-783.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MicrosoftTeams-image-783.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MicrosoftTeams-image-783.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MicrosoftTeams-image-783.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":225815,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/02\/17\/bom-hc-accused-having-secured-acquittal-presumption-of-innocence-is-further-reinforced-reaffirmed-and-strengthened-by-trial-court\/","url_meta":{"origin":340049,"position":2},"title":"Bom HC | Accused having secured acquittal, presumption of innocence is further reinforced, reaffirmed and strengthened by trial court","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"February 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Bombay High Court: K.R. Shriram, J., while upholding the decision of the trial court with regard to the acquittal of the accused, held that, \u201cThere is an acquittal and therefore, there is double presumption in favour of accused.\u201d The present appeal was filed impugning an order and Judgment by Vth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Bombay-HC.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Bombay-HC.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Bombay-HC.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Bombay-HC.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Bombay-HC.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":224232,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/01\/15\/bom-hc-acquittal-of-murder-accused-upheld-holding-his-disclosure-to-sub-inspector-in-police-station-that-he-killed-his-wife-as-non-admissible-in-evidence\/","url_meta":{"origin":340049,"position":3},"title":"Bom HC | Acquittal of murder accused upheld holding his disclosure to Sub-Inspector in police station that he killed his wife as non-admissible in evidence","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"January 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Bombay High Court: A Division Bench of S.S. Shinde and N.B. Suryawanshi, JJ., dismissed an appeal filed by the State against the order of the trial court whereby the respondent-accused was acquitted of the charge of murder punishable under Section 302 IPC.\u00a0 The respondent was accused of killing his wife.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Bombay-HC.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Bombay-HC.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Bombay-HC.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Bombay-HC.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Bombay-HC.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":273290,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/09\/08\/supreme-court-karnataka-high-court-section-302-of-the-penal-code-section-378-crpc-conviction-acquittal-unlawful-assembly-murder-common-object-first-information-reports-rioting-trespass-wi\/","url_meta":{"origin":340049,"position":4},"title":"Reversing acquittal of only 2 out of 22 acquitted murder accused, despite glaring contradictions between witness testimonies, illogical; SC sets aside Karnataka HC verdict","author":"Editor","date":"September 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Supreme Court: In an appeal against the Karnataka High Court's reversal of acquittal of 2 out of the 22 accused acquitted by the Sessions Court in a murder case, the bench of V. Ramasubramanian*and Indira Banerjee, JJ has reversed the High Court's verdict observing that there were glaring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MicrosoftTeams-image-69-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MicrosoftTeams-image-69-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MicrosoftTeams-image-69-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MicrosoftTeams-image-69-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MicrosoftTeams-image-69-2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":270692,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/07\/27\/trial-court-framing-of-charges-discharge-of-accused-murder-postmortem-report-wrong-supreme-court-legal-updates-criminal-law-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":340049,"position":5},"title":"Trial Court not a ‘mere post office’; must apply its mind while framing charges: SC unimpressed with discharge of murder accused based on postmortem report only\u00a0","author":"Prachi Bhardwaj","date":"July 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Ultimately, upon appreciation of the entire evidence on record at the end of the trial, the trial court may take one view or the other i.e. whether it is a case of murder or case of culpable homicide. But at the stage of framing of the charge, the trial court\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Trial-Court-not-a-mere-post-office-it-must-apply-its-mind-while-framing-charges.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Trial-Court-not-a-mere-post-office-it-must-apply-its-mind-while-framing-charges.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Trial-Court-not-a-mere-post-office-it-must-apply-its-mind-while-framing-charges.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Trial-Court-not-a-mere-post-office-it-must-apply-its-mind-while-framing-charges.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Trial-Court-not-a-mere-post-office-it-must-apply-its-mind-while-framing-charges.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67517"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}