Holding

The High Court's conviction is correct; minor inconsistencies in eye‑witness testimony do not invalidate the evidence and the conviction under Section 304 Part I IPC with Section 34 stands.

Summary

Three accused (Bhola, Prithu and Dharmu) were tried for murder under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC. The trial court acquitted them, but the Himachal Pradesh High Court set aside the acquittal and convicted them under Section 304 Part I IPC read with Section 34, relying on eye‑witness testimony despite some omissions and contradictions. The appellants contended that the eye‑witness evidence was unreliable and that such discrepancies should invalidate the conviction. The Supreme Court held that minor inconsistencies in witness statements do not defeat the prosecution’s case; the court must sift truth from untruth and can rely on the residual evidence. It affirmed that the High Court had properly analysed the evidence and that the conviction was justified. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed and the conviction upheld.

Issues considered

Whether the acquittal was erroneous for overlooking the eye‑witness evidence.
Whether omissions, contradictions and discrepancies in eye‑witness testimony render it unreliable to the extent of overturning a conviction.
Whether conviction under Section 304 Part I IPC read with Section 34 is appropriate in the facts of the case.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 300, s. 302, s. 304(Part I), s. 34

Subjects

IPCmurderculpable homicide not amounting to murdereye‑witness testimonyevidence appraisaldiscrepancies in witness statementsconvictionSection 304 Part ISection 34criminal appeal

Judgment

[2009] 2 S.C.R. 750

A BHOLA@ PARAS RAM ..,,-....
v.
STATE OF H.P.
Criminal Appeal No. 331 of 2009
FEBRUARY 18, 2009
B
[DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT AND ASOK KUMAR GANGULY,
JJ.]
),..

Penal Code, 1860: ~

c s.304 (Part 1)134- Prosecution u/s. 302134-Acquittal by
trial Court- Conviction uls. 304 (Part-1)134 by High Court-
holding that acquittal was in- disregard of evidence of eye-
witnesses and motive-On appeal, held: Conviction order was
right as it was passed after proper analysis of the evidence.
D .,.
Evidence-Appreciation of- Evidence having omissions,
contradictions and discrepancies-Held : Such ~vidence ;i

cannot be discarded in its entirety-Truth should be sifted from
untruth-Minor discrepancies not to be given under importance
if it does not go to the root of the matter and shakes basic;
E version of prosecution witnesses. t,;

Appellant- accused along-with two co-accused was
tried for offence punishable u/s. 302/34 IPC. Trial Court )-
_acquitted them. High Court reversing the acquittal, ..
convicted them u/s. 304 (Part I) IPC in terms of Exception
F
4 to s. 300 IPC, holding that acquittal order was passed
over-looking the evidence of eye- witnesses (PWs 2 to
5) and that of father of the appellant-accused to whom
the deceased and his wife (eye-witness) had told that one
of the co-accused had beaten the deceased; and that
G
there also existed motive for the assault. ~
-.
In appeal to his Court, appellant-accused contended
that conviction could not have been based on the

H 750
BHOLA@ PARAS RAM V. STATE OF H.P. 751

~-
evidence of eye-witnesses as the same had omission, A
contradictions and inconsistencies.
Dismissing the appeal, the Court
;t
HELD : 1.1 The High Court has analysed the evidence
and has rightly come to the conclusion that the guilt of the
accused persons has been established. [Para-7] [ 755-G] B
1.2 Undue importance should not be attached to
-...(
omissions, contradictions and discrepancies in evidence
• which do not go to the root of the matter and shake the
basic version of the prosecution witnesses. A witness
-i
cannot be accepted to possess a photographic memory
c
and to recall the details of an incident verbatim. Minor
discrepancies were bound to occur in th~ statement of
witnesses. Even if there are some omission, contradictions
and discrepancies, the entire evidence cannot be
~
discarded. After exercising care and caution and sifting D
)o.
the evidence to separate the truth from untruth,
exaggeration, embellishments and improvements, the·
court can come to a conclusion as to whether the residual
evidence is sufficient to convict the accused. [Para 6-5]
[ 755-C-D; 755-E-F] E
Sohrab and Anr. v. The State of M.P AIR 1972 SC 2020;
State of UP v. M.K. Anthony; AIR 1985 SC 48; Bharwada
~ Bhoginbhai Hirjibhai v. State of Gujarat, AIR (1983) SC 753-
I
" relied on
F
Case Law Reference
AIR 1972 SC 2020 Relied on Para 5
AIR 1985 SC 48 Relied on Para 5
AIR (1983) SC 753 Relied onPara 6
CRIMINALAPPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal G
)" No. 331 of 2009
From the Judgement and Order dated 27.05.2008 of the
High Court of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla in Criminal Appeal
No. 150of1994. H
752 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009) 2 S.C.R.

A Anil Nag, Narender Tyagi, for the Appellant. . .,........
Naresh K. Sharma for the Respondent.
The Judgement of the Court was delivered by
I
~
'
DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.
B
1. Leave granted.
2. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a Division )..

Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court setting aside the ..,.
acquittal recorded by learned Additional Sessions Judge, "'
c Kangra,· Dharamshala. Three accused persons Bhola, Prithu
and Dharmu faced trial for alleged commission of offence
punishable under Sections 302 read with 34 of the Indian Penal
Code, 1860 (in short the 'IPC'). The High Court by the impugned
judgment set aside the order of acquittal and directed each of
D the accused persoris guilty of offence punishable under Section .J..

304 Part I, IPC read with Section 34 IPC and sentenced each rl.

to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a
fine of Rs.5,000/-.
2. Background facts in a nutshell are as follows: I
E t=
Fandi Ram (hereinafter referred to as the 'deceased')
owed certain amount to Prehlad Chand (PW-10), merchant of
village Boh on account of purchases made on credit. Appellant j..
is soh of PW-10. On 14.2.1992 at 8.00 a.m. the accused •
F appellant visited house of Fandi Ram and demanded payment
due to his father. Fandi Ram told Bhola that he had to take loan
from the society and would make payment. Bhola who was
carrying a bottle of liquor asked Fandi Ram to go to society
shop after visiting the house of accused Prithu. Both of them
G went to the house of Prithu located in the village of Fandi Ram.
All the three sat in the house of Prithu and started consuming
~ ...
~
liquor in which his brother Dharmu also joined. At about 2 p.m.
Singhu (PW-4) son of deceased was sent by his widow Kailasho ~
I-
Devi (PW-3) to see if Fandi Ram had gone to society shop.
Singho reminded his father, but all the three accused told that
'
H ';
BHOLA@ PARAS RAM V. STATE OF H.P. 753
[DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.]

they would accompany him to society shop. Sing ho then came A
""'~·
and left for village Kath la and Sardair Lal (PW-5) another son of
deceased went to water mill (Gharat).
At about 3.30 p.m Kailasho and her son Jagdish from their
house noticed all the three accused giving fist blows to Fandi
Ram near the school, located in front of their house, separated B
by a drain from the school. Kailasho shouted why her husband
..; was being beaten and she accompanied by Jagdish rushed to
..,,. the place of occurrence where her husband was being given a
., beating. Bhola accused in her presence gave a stone blow on
the head of Fandi Ram and ran away. Remaining accused also c
hit him with the stone on the head. Jagdish (PW-2) intervened
but the accused Dharamu and Prithu also gave beatings to him.
The sleeve of the shirt of Jagdish got torn and one sleeve was
left on the spot. Jagdish tied a cloth around the head of his father,
li which was bleeding du_e to injuries. They took Fandi Ram to the D
,. shop of Prehlad Chand (PW-10). On the way Sardari Lal (PW-
5) who was coming from the water mill met them. He inquired
about the cause of injuries from his father. Fandi Ram told him ·
of the accused beating him with stones with all the other accused
due to the enmity of Panchayat elections. Then on the way to E
the shop of Prehlad Chand, Janam Singh, Nambardar (PW-6)
met them who was also told by the deceased that he was beaten
by the accused with stones due to Panchayat elections. Prehlad
~
~
Chand was also told by the deceased that he was beaten by
the accused, who then tried to get the matter compounded and F
settled for Rs.600/-. But accused did not agree to make
payment. Thereafter in the shop of Prehlad Chand, Fandi Ram
fell unconscious. On way a Compounder Desh Raj (PW -12)
provided him first aid.
Fandi Ram at about 11.00 p.m. succumbed to the injuries. G
Further case revealed is that during night due to distance, injured
. -* could not be taken to hospital at Shahpur located at a distance
of 25 Kilometers, nor police could be informed. In the morning
of 15th February, 1992, Sardari Lal came to Sbahpur to lodge
report but when he reached village Darini, the bus had already H
754 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 2 S.C.R.

A left. Therefore, Darini informed police station Shahpur on
-y......
telephone about the occurrence upon which information A.S.1. .
Feru Ram (PW-15) recorded Rapat Ex.P.19 and proceeded to r
the spot. In village of the deceased he recorded statement Ex.P-
5 of Jagdish Singh (PW-2), sent the same for registration of a
B case. Prepared inquest report Ex. P. 2 and took Pama Ex. P.
10 vide memo Ex. P. 8 in possession. Investigation was
undertaken. After completion of investigation charge sheet was
filed. ~

~

Trial Court did not accept the evidence to be credible and ...._
c directed acquittal. State questioned the acquittal.
The High Court found that the trial Court has over looked
the evidence of the eye witnesses, more particularly, PWs 2 to \.,

5. It was also noted that PW-10 the father of accused Bhola '
accepted that Kailasho Devi accompanied by her son and the
D ~
deceased in injured condition came to his shop and on enquiry
Fandi Ram and his wife informed him that he was beaten by ... l

\~
accused Dharmu and Fundi Ram also nodded his head
supporting the version of his wife. The High Court noted that the ('
evidence clearly established that the accused persons took liquor
E with the deceased in the house of accused Bhola. There was
L
j

(-
election dispute. PW-10 who was Pradhan proclaimed that he
did not vote for a winning party and this was the bone of
contention between the accused persons and the deceased. . l-

The accused persons were also drunk. They started quarreling
F with the deceased and gave him a fist blow and assaulted him
• .,.. ft.,_ .

I-
with some stones which was witnessed by Kailasho Devi and
her son Jagdish Singh from their house. Therefore, the order of
;-
..
acquittal was set aside.
I:
3. In support of the appeal, learned counsel for the appellant
G l ';

submitted that the evidence of the eye witnesses was not reliable
and, therefore, the order of acquittal should not have been set t
'" }....
aside. t
~

4. Learned. counsel for the State on the other hand ~

~
H submitted that the High Court had rightly held that in course of
l-
;~

!l
BHOLA@ PARAS RAM V. STATE OF H.P. 755
[DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.]

......... sudden quarrel the occurrence took place and, therefore, had A
convicted the accused persons in terms of Exception 4 to
Section 300 IPC by altering the conviction to Section 304 Part
llPC.

.. 5. It is to be noted that the accused persons pleaded that
the evidence of the eye witnesses cannot be accepted as there B
were omissions, contradictions and discrepancies in the
evidence of most of the prosecution witnesses. In the effort of
~
.,,_ false implication, prosecution made introduction of PW-9, an
eye witness. It is fairly settled position in law that even if there
are some omissions, contradictions and discrepancies the c
entire evidence cannot be discarded. After exercising care and
caution and sifting the evidence to separate the truth from untruth,
exaggeration, embellishments and improvements the court can
come to a conclusion as to whether the residual evidence is
sufficient to convict the accused. (See Sohrab and Anr. V The D
~
,. State of M.P (AIR 1972 SC 2020) and State of UP v. M.K.
Anthony (AIR 1985 SC 48).
6. In Bharwada Bhoginbhai Hirjibhai v. State of Gujarat
(AIR 1983 SC 753), it was observed that undue importance
should not be attached to omissions, contradictions and E
discrepancies which do not go to the root ·of the matter and
shake the basic version of the prosecution witnesses. A witness
cannot be accepted to possess a photographic memory and to

"' "'
recall the deals of an incident verbatim. Ordinarily, it so happens
that a witness is overtaken by events. A witness could not have F
been anticipated the occurrence which very often has an element
of surprise. The mental faculties cannot, therefore, be expected
to be attuned to absorb all the details. Thus, minor discrepancies
were bound to occur in the statement of witnesses.
7. The High Court has analysed the evidence in the G
...;._ aforesaid background and has rightly come to the conclusion
;.
that the guilt ·of the accused persons has been established.
8. The appeal is, therefore, dismissed.

K.K.T. Appeal dismissed.