71 out of 87 witnesses turned hostile, even the deceased's son did not identify the murderers, Supreme Court was forced to acquit the accused

News Topical, Digital Desk : The Supreme Court on Friday acquitted six accused in a murder case with a heavy heart. Most of the witnesses in the case turned hostile. This included the son of the deceased. This forced the court to acquit the murderers. There were a total of 87 witnesses in this "unsolved crime", out of which 71 turned hostile. A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K. Vinod Chandran set aside the September 27, 2023 order of the Karnataka High Court, which had convicted six accused by setting aside the lower court's verdict. 

Justice Chandran, in a 49-page judgment written on behalf of the bench, said that in view of the lack of evidence related to this unsolved crime, the accused are acquitted with a heavy heart. The bench said, "Reversing the decision of the High Court and restoring the decision of the lower court." The bench expressed regret over the witnesses turning hostile in court and the "overzealous" investigation, saying that there was a "complete disregard of the basic principles of criminal law" in the investigation, in such circumstances "prosecution often becomes a mockery". 

The court said- this is a strange case

"The witnesses turn hostile from their earlier statements, refuse to recognise the recoveries, plead ignorance of the serious circumstances pointed out during investigation and the eye witnesses turn blind. This is a bizarre case where out of a total of 87 witnesses, 71 have turned hostile, leaving the prosecution to rely on the testimony of police and official witnesses," the bench said. "Even the son of the deceased, an important eyewitness in the case, failed to identify the killers of his father," the court added. 

order to release the accused

The apex court said the high court relied on the testimony of police and official witnesses to convict the accused. After analysing the evidence and the testimony of the witnesses, the court's "sole view" was that the prosecution completely failed to prove the charges against the accused. The court said that if the accused is in custody and is not required in any other case, he should be released. 

What is the matter?

On 28 April 2011, a man named Ramakrishna was murdered in Karnataka due to a dispute between two brothers. At the time of the murder, he was going for a walk with his son. Ramakrishna used to work for one brother earlier, but later he started working for the other brother. After this, his six old colleagues conspired to murder Ramakrishna, but due to lack of evidence and witnesses, everyone was killed.

Read More: 71 out of 87 witnesses turned hostile, even the deceased's son did not identify the murderers, Supreme Court was forced to acquit the accused