Current Affairs

Source: Supreme Court

Why in News?

Recently, the Supreme Court in the matter of Chhote Lal v. Rohtash, has held that in cases where the appellant or the complainant is an interested sole eyewitness, his testimony has to be examined with great caution.

What is the Background of Chhote Lal v. Rohtash Case?

• In this case, there was serious enmity between the two rival groups since 1986.
• The said dispute continued to persist which resulted in the murder of Ram Kishan.
• Apparently, for seeking revenge, the other group killed one Kishan Sarup (victim).
• In connection with the above killing of Kishan Sarup, the First Information Report (FIR) was registered on 5^th May 2000.
  • Out of the ten accused persons before the Court of Sessions, six were convicted for the offences punishable under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC)
• The said conviction and sentence have been set aside by the High Court.
  • Aggrieved by the same, the appellant approached the Supreme Court.
  • Dismissing the appeal, the Supreme Court upheld the order of the High Court.

What were the Court’s Observations?

• The Bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Pankaj Mithal observed that it may not be out of context to mention that the appellant/complainant, a sole eyewitness, happens to be the most interested witness being the father of the deceased and having long enmity with the group to which the accused persons belong, therefore, his testimony was to be examined with great caution and the High Court was justified in doing so and in doubting it so as to uphold the conviction on his solitary evidence.

What are the Relevant Legal Provisions Involved in it?

Who is a Witness?

• A witness is a person who voluntarily testifies or provides evidence to clarify or to help the court in determining the rights and liabilities of the parties in the case.
• Witnesses can either be the person related or experts with valuable input for the case.
• A witness is said to be competent when there is nothing in law to prevent him from appearing in the Court and giving witness.
• Sections 118 to 134 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872(IEA) talks about who can testify as a witness, how can one testify, what statements will be considered as testimony.

Testimony of Witness

• Section 118 of the IEA states that all persons shall be competent to testify unless the Court considers that they are prevented from understanding the questions put to them, or from giving rational answers to those questions, by tender years, extreme old age, disease, whether of body or mind, or any other cause of the same kind.
  Explanation - A lunatic is not incompetent to testify, unless he is prevented by his lunacy from understanding the questions put to him and giving rational answers to them.

Testimony of Single Eyewitness

• The testimony of a single eyewitness can form the basis for conviction, provided that it is of sterling quality.
• In case of discrepancies in the testimony of a single eyewitness, it is not safe to record or confirm conviction based thereupon