{"id":392772,"date":"2026-08-08T13:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=392772"},"modified":"2026-08-07T17:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T12:26:11","slug":"sc-acquits-life-convict-after-22-years-cites-unreliable-eyewitness-evidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/08\/08\/sc-acquits-life-convict-after-22-years-cites-unreliable-eyewitness-evidence\/","title":{"rendered":"Taken on “mere suspicion” for a Triple Murder, 22 years erased without any evidence: SC frees man; Faults both Courts below"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Supreme Court:<\/span> In a case highlighting the importance of meaningful access to justice for convicted prisoners and the duty of Constitutional Courts to adopt a liberal approach in condoning delays in criminal appeals, a Division Bench of J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran, JJ.<\/span>, set aside the conviction of a man who had spent 22 years in prison after finding the prosecution case to be shrouded in a “pall of incredulity<\/span>“. The Court held that the High Court had erred in refusing to condone the delay in filing the jail appeal and, upon examining the merits, found that the conviction rested solely on an unreliable eyewitness account, unsupported by credible corroborative evidence.<\/p>\n

Background<\/p>\n

The appellant, with the assistance of the legal services authorities, approached the Court after having undergone 22 years of imprisonment. His appeal, filed with a delay of 3703 days, had already been entertained by a coordinate Bench, which condoned the delay, termed the High Court’s refusal to do so as “very disturbing”, granted bail to the appellant, and directed the District Legal Services Authority, Koraput, to prepare an appropriate representation seeking remission of sentence in accordance with the remission policy applicable at the time of the offence or any subsequent beneficial policy. The Court also took note of the conduct certificate issued by the jail authorities, which recorded that the appellant’s conduct and behaviour throughout his incarceration had been satisfactory, that he maintained cordial relations with co-prisoners, and that he had never been punished for any jail offence.<\/p>\n

During the hearing, the Bench sought to ascertain whether the murders of the 3 women were indicative of a pattern of serial killings or a psychological aberration. Accordingly, the jurisdictional Station House Officer was summoned, who informed the Court that, upon verification of records, no similar incident had been reported during the relevant period.<\/p>\n

“Access to justice still eludes the marginalized sections of our society and especially those convicted and imprisoned from amongst them. When the three pillars of democracy consistently endeavor to bring legal aid to the doorsteps of every citizen, especially the poor, the needy and the deprived, we, in the Constitutional Courts should introspect to sensitize ourselves in taking a liberal approach insofar as delay occasioned in filing an appeal from an order of conviction and sentence, depriving a person, the most valuable and fundamental of all rights; liberty.”<\/p>\n

Analysis and Decision<\/p>\n

The Court also examined the appellant’s claim for premature release and noted that his applications for remission had been rejected on 6 occasions, the last rejection being on 19 September 2025, despite the authorities acknowledging that both the 2000 Remission Policy and the 2022 Policy were beneficial to him. Although the Deputy Inspector General of Prisons stated that the appellant’s case could only be reconsidered by the State Sentencing Review Board after the expiry of 1 year from the last consideration, the Court observed that the earlier rejections were primarily based on apprehensions of law and order arising from local opposition to the appellant’s release. The Bench remarked that such apprehensions “in every circumstance cannot be a cause, not to judiciously exercise the power of remission”, underscoring that public opposition alone cannot justify denial of remission where the applicable policy otherwise entitles the convict to consideration.<\/p>\n

The Court, upon examining the merits of the case, found the prosecution evidence to be shrouded in a “pall of incredulity”. The Court held that the conviction rested solely on the testimony of the alleged eyewitness (PW 3), whose version was shaky, highly improbable, and riddled with material inconsistencies. It noted that PW 3 claimed to have witnessed only 1 murder, though 3 women were killed on the same night, and her conduct before and after the incident was inconsistent with ordinary human behaviour. The prosecution’s case was further weakened by contradictory testimonies regarding the disclosure of the incident, the failure of the investigating officer to prepare a sketch of the scene of occurrence or explain how the accused was apprehended, and reliance on an inadmissible confession allegedly extracted through third-degree methods. The Court also found the alleged recovery of the weapons of offence unreliable, as the trial court itself had rejected the recovery and no forensic evidence connected the recovered stones with the murders.<\/p>\n

Holding that while a conviction can be founded on the testimony of a solitary eyewitness, such testimony must be believable, credible, consistent with surrounding circumstances and inspire the confidence of the Court, the Bench concluded that the prosecution had failed to establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. Observing that “there lingers a serious doubt in our minds as to the finding of guilt”, the Court set aside the judgment of conviction and acquitted the appellant. The Court lamented that “three lives were snuffed out,” that a person was “taken into custody on mere suspicion” and made to give a confession, though inadmissible, “extracted employing third-degree methods,” and that the trial court “fails to evaluate the evidence properly” while the High Court “remains a moot spectator while adding to the tally of disposals,” cumulatively resulting in “22 years being erased out of a person’s life without any reliable evidence.” It directed the District Legal Services Authority, Koraput, along with the District Administration, to undertake the appellant’s rehabilitation and resettlement. The appeal was accordingly allowed.<\/p>\n

Also Read:<\/span> Section 299 CrPC interpretation: Can evidence from co-accused’s case be used during absconding accused’s trial? | SCC Times<\/a><\/p>\n

[Arjun Jani<\/span> v. State of Orissa<\/span>, Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 7128 of 2026, decided on 4-8-2026<\/span>]<\/p>\n

*Judgement authored by: Justice K. Vinod Chandran<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supreme Court set aside the conviction of a man who spent 22 years in prison, holding that the prosecution case rested on an unreliable solitary eyewitness account. The Court also emphasised that Constitutional Courts must adopt a proactive approach in condoning delays in criminal appeals filed by convicts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67541,"featured_media":392773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[8511,4561,2552,66622,6711,6252,71341,49365,70060,52805,2987,2760,30765,5363],"class_list":["post-392772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-supremecourt","tag-access-to-justice","tag-acquittal","tag-Condonation_of_delay","tag-criminal-appeals","tag-criminal-law","tag-evidence-act","tag-eyewitness-testimony","tag-justice-j-b-pardiwala","tag-justice-k-vinod-chandran","tag-legal-services-authorities","tag-life_imprisonment","tag-remission","tag-section-302-ipc","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nSC acquits life convict after 22 years over shaky evidence | SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Supreme Court acquitted a life convict after 22 years, holding that conviction cannot rest on unreliable solitary eyewitness testimony and reiterating a liberal approach to delayed jail appeals\" \/>\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\/2026\/08\/08\/sc-acquits-life-convict-after-22-years-cites-unreliable-eyewitness-evidence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Taken on \u201cmere suspicion\u201d for a Triple Murder, 22 years erased without any evidence: SC frees man; Faults both Courts below\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Supreme Court acquitted a life convict after 22 years, holding that conviction cannot rest on unreliable solitary eyewitness testimony and reiterating a liberal approach to delayed jail appeals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/08\/08\/sc-acquits-life-convict-after-22-years-cites-unreliable-eyewitness-evidence\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-08-08T07:30:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Supreme-Court-acquits-life-convict-after-22-years.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=\"Malika Bhola\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Taken on “mere suspicion” for a Triple Murder, 22 years erased without any evidence: SC frees man; Faults both Courts below\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Malika Bhola\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/08\\\/sc-acquits-life-convict-after-22-years-cites-unreliable-eyewitness-evidence\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/08\\\/sc-acquits-life-convict-after-22-years-cites-unreliable-eyewitness-evidence\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Malika Bhola\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45db260c9b47eac21ba4813c9a379af1\"},\"headline\":\"Taken on “mere suspicion” for a Triple Murder, 22 years erased without any evidence: SC frees man; Faults both Courts below\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-08T07:30:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/08\\\/sc-acquits-life-convict-after-22-years-cites-unreliable-eyewitness-evidence\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":940,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/08\\\/sc-acquits-life-convict-after-22-years-cites-unreliable-eyewitness-evidence\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Supreme-Court-acquits-life-convict-after-22-years.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Access to Justice\",\"acquittal\",\"Condonation of delay\",\"Criminal Appeals\",\"criminal law\",\"Evidence Act\",\"eyewitness testimony\",\"Justice J.B. 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