Criminal Trial – On the account of defective investigation the benefit will not inure to the accused persons on that ground alone. It is well within the domain of the courts to consider the rest of the evidence which the prosecution has gathered such as statement of the eyewitnesses, medical report etc -The accused cannot claim acquittal on the ground of faulty investigation done by the prosecuting agency. (Para 22)
Criminal Trial – Law relating to material contradiction in witness testimony discussed – Rammi vs State of MP, Birbal Nath vs State of Rajasthan. (Para 15) – Either a partial, untrue version of one of the witnesses or an exaggerated version of a witness may not be a sole reason to discard the entire prosecution case which is otherwise supported by clinching evidence such as truthful version of the witnesses, medical evidence, recovery of the weapons etc. (Para 18)
Legal Maxims – “Noscitur a sociis” – The meaning of a word can be determined by the context of the sentence; it is to be judged by the company it keeps. (Para 16) –
Legal Maxims – ‘Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus’- False in one thing, false in everything- This principle is foreign to our criminal law jurisprudence- the principle ‘falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus’ is not a rule of evidence and if the court inspires confidence from the rest of the testimony of such a witness, it can very well rely on such a part of the testimony and base a conviction upon it. (Para 19) – Only because there are some contradictions which in the opinion of this Court are not even that material, the entire story of the prosecution cannot be discarded as false. It is the duty of the Court to separate the grain from the chaff. In a given case, it is also open to the Court to differentiate the accused who had been acquitted from those who were convicted where there are a number of accused persons. (Para 26)
Crime – Crime creates a sense of societal fear and it affects adversely the societal conscience. It is inequitable and unjust if such a situation is allowed to perpetuate and continue in the society. In every civilized society, the purpose of criminal administrative system is to protect individual dignity and to restore societal stability and order and to create faith and cohesion in the society. The courts in the discharge of their duties are tasked with balancing of interests of the accused on one hand and the state/society on the other. (Para 10)