Bombay HC lets off two men who had been given life sentence based on extra judicial confession
India Today
The Bombay High Court acquitted two people of murder charges on grounds that an extra-judicial confession made by the accused cannot be the basis of conviction.
The Bombay High Court acquitted two persons of murder charges after 16 years on the grounds that an extra-judicial confession made by the accused to a stranger cannot be the basis of conviction.
The Bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Prithviraj Chavan was hearing an appeal filed by Gonda residents who were booked for the twin murder of men who worked and lived in a shop in Trombay.
According to police, the incident had taken place on May 21, 2006, when the two accused men had gone to the shop to meet one of the murdered persons for his sister's hand in marriage but an altercation took place and the two men were killed by the accused.
There was supposedly a history of animosity between the victim and the accused, since one of the accused was purportedly in love with his sister, but the family forbade him from marrying her.
The trial court in Mumbai convicted and sentenced the men for life in 2010. With the case centred on circumstantial evidence, the prosecution highlighted an extra-judicial confession by the accused to one of the witnesses as a key piece of evidence.
The defence stated that accused Mansoorali had "only a stray acquaintance" with the witness and therefore, the confession would not inspire confidence. The Court accepted this contention, noting that it was a well-known fact that the accused worked as a waiter in a hotel which the witness used to visit once a week. The Bench noted that the accused had no reason to repose faith in a customer of the hotel.
The High Court relied on the Supreme Court's observations in various cases where, on the subject of extra-judicial confessions, it had ruled that implicit reliance on the same could not be placed for upholding the convictions. “It is also clear that there is no independent corroboration to the alleged extra-judicial confession. The manner in which it is said to have been made appears to be improbable and imprudent,” the Bench stated.
