New Delhi, Jul 16 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday said when “human lives are at stake and the cost is blood” the matter requires “utmost sincerity” and acquitted a man on death row for killing his family in 2013.
A three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court order confirming the convict’s death penalty.
The top court underlined “major contradictions” in the testimonies of key prosecution witnesses in the case and observed that it couldn’t be said the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“At the cost of repetition, we must state that the standard of proof is an absolutely strict one and cannot be faltered with. When at stake are human lives and the cost is blood, the matter needs to be dealt with utmost sincerity,” it added.
The order went on, “We cannot bring ourselves to hold the accused-appellant guilty of the charged offence as his guilt has not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” The prosecution alleged Baljinder killed his wife, his toddlers, sister-in-law and injured two others on November 29, 2013.
The convict had visited his mother-in-law days before the murders and threatened to kill his wife and children who had left him over a monetary dispute.
An amount of Rs 35,000 was to be paid to Baljinder and his sister by her former husband as part of their divorce settlement.
Since his mother-in-law stood as guarantor for his sister’s husband for returning the amount, and when such amount was not paid, it led to constant fights between Baljinder and his wife.
The fight had escalated to such an extent where Baljinder threatened to kill his wife and children if the money was not paid, the prosecution claimed.
In its judgement, the top court highlighted different versions of the same set of events being narrated by the witnesses at different points in time aside from retractions according to their convenience.
“As a result, the prosecution timeline and the fundamental details about the occurrence are not at all corroborated between its two key witnesses. Therefore, we observe that the contradictions in prosecution witnesses’ testimonies, as pointed above, are major ones and carve a gaping hole in the prosecution story altogether,” the bench held. PTI PKS PKS AMK AMK
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