Holding

A conviction can be sustained on partially reliable evidence; the maxim “falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus” is only a rule of caution, and the FIR’s location does not affect the case, with the sentence for Section 326 IPC reduced to five years.

Summary

The appellants were convicted of murder (IPC 302) and related offences (IPC 326, 324) based largely on the testimony of a single eye‑witness (PW‑1) whose evidence was held by the trial and high courts to be not wholly reliable, while two other eye‑witnesses turned hostile. The appellants challenged the convictions, arguing that the unreliable testimony should have led to acquittal and that the FIR was not lodged at the nearest police station. The Supreme Court held that partial unreliability of evidence does not preclude conviction; the maxim “falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus” is merely cautionary, and where some credible evidence remains, conviction can stand. The Court also ruled that the FIR’s location is immaterial. While upholding the convictions, it reduced the ten‑year sentence for the offence under Section 326 IPC to five years, allowing the appeal in part and dismissing it for the other convictions.

Issues considered

Whether a conviction can be sustained when the sole eye‑witness testimony is found not wholly reliable.
Whether the maxim “falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus” mandates acquittal if part of the prosecution evidence is unreliable.
Whether the failure to lodge the FIR at the nearest police station vitiates the prosecution case.
Whether the ten‑year sentence for an offence under Section 326 IPC is excessive and should be reduced.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 120B, s. 148, s. 302, s. 324, s. 326

Subjects

murdereye‑witness reliabilityfalsus in uno falsus in omnibusFIR procedural defectsentencingIPC 302IPC 326criminal conspiracyunlawful assembly

Judgment

r_. GUBBALA VENUGOPALASWAMY AND ORS. A
v.
STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

APRIL 6, 2004

[DORAISWAMY RAJU AND ARIJIT PASA YAT, JJ.] B

...,. Penal Code, 1860-Sections 302, 326 and 324-Murder-Prosecution-
Incident seen by eyewitnesses-Conviction of accused persons uls 302 relying
on one of the eye witnesses although he was held not wholly reliable-High
Court convicted two accused uls. 326 and sentence to 10 years imprisonment c
and convicted one accused uls. 302 and another accused 11/s 324-0n appeal,
co11Viction upheld-However, sentence of 10 years for offence uls. 326 reduced
to 5 years.

Criminal Trial:
D
Conviction can be based on partially unreliable evidence of
prosecution-However, conviction cannot be based on evidence which is totally
l'
unreliable and the truth and falsehood therein is inextricably mixed up and in
the process of separation of the same an absolute new case is made out.
E
Maxims:

Falsus in 11110 falsus in omnibus "-Applicability of

Appellants-accused along with 3 other accused formed unlawful
assembly and killed a person pursuant to a conspiracy. There was political
F
rivalry as well as personal enmity between the accused and deceased party.
The incident was seen by 3 eye witnesses. During trial two of the eye
witnesses turned hostile. FIR couh! not be lodged in nearest Police Station
because the Constable in that police Station told the witness that he was
not competent to accept the same and the Inspector was not there and he
suggested him to lodge ttie FIR in another Police Station. Trial Court G
although held that evidence of one eye witnesses (PW-I) was not without
blemish, still relying on the sole eye witness convicted the 4 appellants-
'~ accused u/s 302 IPC and the other three accused were acquitted. On appeal
High Court held Al and A4 guilty of offence punishable u/s 326 IPC and
909 H
•
910 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2004 J .1 S. C.R.

A sentenced them to imprisonment for 10 years, A2 was convicted u/s 302
IPC and A 3 was convicted u/s 324 IPC.

In appeal to this Court appellants contended that appellants-accused
should have been acquitted in view of the holding of the courts below that
evidence of PW-I was not wholly reliable; that the reasons ascribed by
B trial Court to discard the eye-witness account of PW-3 are equally
applicable to PWI; and that FIR was not lodged at nearest Police Station.

Disposing of the appeal, the Court t

HELD: I.I. It cannot be said that when a portion of the prosecution
C evidence is discarded as unworthy of credence, there cannot be any
conviction. It is always open to the Court to differentiate between an
accused who has been convicted and those who have been acquitted. The
maxim "Falsus in uno falsus in omnibus" is merely a rule of caution. In
terms of felicitous metaphor, an attempt has to be made to separate grain
D from the chaff, truth from falsehood. When the prosecution is able to
establish its case by acceptable evidence, though in part, the accused can
be convicted even if the co-accused have been acquitted on the ground that
the evidence led was not sufficient to fasten guilt on them. But where the
position is such that the e'·idence is totally unreliable, and it will be
impossible to separate truth from falsehood to an extent that they are
E inextricably mixed up, and in the process of separation an absolute new
case has to be reconstructed by divorcing essential details presented by
the prosecution compleMy from the context and background against which
they are made, conviction cannot be made. 1914-B-EI

Narain v. State of MP., 120041 2 SCC 455, relied on.
F
1.2. PW-1 's version has not been found credible on certain aspects.
But that per se cannot be a ground to discard his evidence even if it is
found to be otherwise credible. So far as the prosecution version is
concerned, it has ascribed particular roles and acts to the accused persons,
though PWs 2 and 3 have turned hostile in respect of part of their evidence.
G It is fairly settled position in law that even if part of evidence is discarded,
that cannot be a ground to discard the evidence, more particularly that
part of the evidence which is cogent and credible. The evidence and
subsequent acts have been attributed to A-4 in view of the evidence of PW-
1 which has remained unaffected, in spite of the incisive cross-examination.
H The evidence on record is sufficient to establish the conviction. J914-F-GJ
.. G. VENUGOPALASIV AMYL STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH !PASA YAT . .I.] 911
~"' 1.3. The plea that FIR was not lodged at the nearest Police Station
A
is without substance. It is clearly stated in evidence that a Constable told
the witness that the Inspector was not available and he being a Constable
was not competent to accept the intimation and had suggested that the
report may be lodged at another Police Station having jurisdiction.
1914-AI
B
2. Sentence of 10 years awarded for the offence punishablt! under
Section 326 !PC, is on the higher side. Custodial sentence of 5 years to A-
1 and A-4 for their conviction under Section 326 !PC would suffice.
1914-H; 915-AI

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. c
540 of I 998.

From the Judgment and Order dated 8.9.97 of the Andhra Pradesh High
Court in Cr!. A. No. I 035 of 1996.

V.A. Mohta, P. Veera Reddy, Jamshed Bey and Parmanand Gaur for D
the Appellants.
"' ']'
Guntur Prabhakar for the Respondent.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
E
ARIJIT PASAYA T, J. The four appellants described as accused A- I,
A-2, A-3 and A-4 faced trial along with three others for alleged commission
of offences punishable under Sections 302, 120B and 148 of the Indian Penal
Code 1860 (for short 'the !PC'). The Trial Court found the present appellants
to be guilty of offence punishable under Section 302 !PC but not of the other
..... two offences. Accused A-5 to A-7 were acquitted as the Trial Court held E
evidence to be insufficient to hold them guilty. A- I was sentenced to undergo
life imprisonment with fine of Rs. 2,000 with default stipulation of six months.
Matter was carried in appeal before the Andhra Pradesh High Court which
by the impugned judgment held A- I and A-4 guilty of offence punishable
under Section. 326 !PC and sentenced each to undergo RI for 10 years and G
to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- with default stipulation of four months. A-2 was
I-* found guilty of offence punishable under Section 302 IPC by affirming
conviction made and sentence imposed by the Trial Court. A-3 was convicted
of offence punishable under Section 324 IPC and was sentenced to undergo
imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs. 500 with
H
/

912 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2004] 3 S.C.R.

A default stipulation of two months imprisonment.
Prosecution version as unfolded during trial is as follows:

All the accused assembled in the house of A-2 (Boorabathula
Ramachandra Rao) at about 10.00 a.m. on 31.7.1993 and entered into a
B criminal conspiracy to kill Gubballa Sambamurthy (hereinafter referred to as
the 'deceased') on that day itself. Subsequently at 12.00 noon on the same
day A-2 to A-7 assembled again in the house of one Chelliboyina Venkata
Narasamnia (examined as PW-5) in West Kaza village and once again
conspired to kill the deceased when he would be going to Palakol. A-2
brought knives in a bag and also informed the other accused persons that A-
C I would join them at 3.00 p.m. at the scene of offence, and pursuant to their
criminal conspiracy all the accused assembled with yerukula knives and formed
themselves into an unlawful assembly at Palakol-Vardhanam road in the
cattle shed of Allam Udayavarlu on the outskirts of Palakol on the same day
at about 3.00 p.m. with the common object of killing the deceased. At about
D 3.30 p.m. while the deceased was going on his cycle from his village West
Kaza towards Palakol with three empty cement bags to purchase sundry
articles in the shandy at Palakol, all the accused armed with yerukula knives
surrounded him when he came to the scene of offence and inflicted injuries
on him resulting in his death on the spot. A-1 hacked him on his right side
neck, A-2 hacked him on his right side neck, and A-3 hacked him on his
E back; and when the deceased fell down, A-4 hacked him on his left chest. A-
5 hacked him on his right shoulder, A-6 hacked him below left shoulder and
A-7 also hacked him. At the time of occurrence, the brother of the deceased
Gubbala Sriramamu1ihy (PW-1), Gubbala Gopala10 (PW-2) and Gubbala
Chalapathi (PW-3) all of West Kaza village were following on two cycles a
F little behind the deceased, and witnessed the occurrence, and on seeing them,
accused removed the body of the deceased to the nearby irrigation body and )•
escaped with their weapons. The scene of occurrence was on the southern
side of the road margin of Palakol-Vardhanam road in front of the cattle shed
of Allam Udayavarlu on the outski1is of Palakol town. A-I was the leader of
the Congress-I party and the other accused were his followers; and the deceased
G was one of the organizers of CPM party. Besides political rivalries, there
were personal rivalries between the families of A-1 and the deceased and
number of criminal cases were filed against the persons belonging to the two
parties. On the previous day, i.e. on 30.7.1993, Gubbala Venkataswamy. the
brother of A-1, performed the marriages of his son and daughter, and those
belonging to Congress-I party under the leadership of A- I did not attend that
H
G. VENUGOPALASWAMY r STA TE OF AN DH RA PRADES!l [PASA YAT .I.] 913
\.~
marriage while the deceased and his followers attended those marriages in A
large numbers and made them a grand success and this precipitated the matters
and led the accused to a conspiracy to kill the deceased.

On completion of investigation charge sheet was filed and after framing
of charges, the trial was taken up. In order to further its version, prosecution
examined 16 witnesses while the accused persons examined 7 witnesses to B
substantiate their plea of false implication and innocence. The Trial Court
found that as per prosecution, there were eye-witnesses PWs I, 2 and 3,
though PWs 2 and 3 resiled from the statements made during investigation.
Primarily conviction was recorded placing reliance on the evidence of PW-
1 though the Trial Court and the High Court found that the evidence was not C
without blemish.

In support of the appeal, learned counsel for the appellant submitted
that Trial Court and the High Court having accepted that there were
exaggerations made by PW-I and since evidence was not totally reliable, at
least some corroborative evidence should have been led by the prosecution. D
The scene of occurrence was not established and on the contrary, the evidence
indicated that the occurrence did not take at the place and in the manner
l' prescribed by the prosecution and the defence version was more probable.
The' reasons ascribed by the Trial Court to discard the evidence of PW-3 are
equally applicable to PW- I and no distinction should have been made to
accept PW-1 's version. The conduct of prosecution witnesses and the evidence E
tendered by them is clearly unnatural. It is too much to accept that the
accused persons would carry the dead body when PW-I was allegedly
witnessing the occurrence. Courts below having considered PW-I to be not
wholly reliable should have directed acquittal.

In response, learned counsel for the State submitted that though PW-1 F
has not been able to clearly state about certain aspects, yet portion of his
testimony has been found sufficient by the courts below t'l fasten guilt on the
accused persons. The conclusions are essentially factual and two courts below
having found the evidence to be sufficient for the purpose of convicting the
accused persons, no interference is called for. There was no cross-examination G
on the aspect regarding presence of PW- I at about l.30 p.m. Though the
r • Trial court and the High Court found some variations in the evidence yet the
overall view has been taken and no interference is called for on that score
also.

Much stress has been laid by the learned counsel for the appellants on H
914 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2004] 3 S.C.R.

A the alleged unnatural conduct of the witnesses. We find, as has been found
by the courts below, after finding deceased to have breathed his last the
obvious reaction was to set the law into motion. The plea that FIR was not
lodged at the nearest Police Station is without substance. It is clearly stated
in evidence that a Constable told the witness that the Inspector is not available
and he was not competent to accept the intimation and had suggested that the
B report may be lodged at another Police Station having jurisdiction.

As a rule of universal application it cannot be said that when a portion
of the prosecution evidence is discarded as unworthy of credence, there cannot
be any conviction. It is always open to the Court to differentiate between an
accused who has been convicted and those who have been acquitted. [See
C Guru Charan Singh and Another v. State of Punjab, AIR (I 956) SC 460 and
Sucha Singh and Anr. v. State of Punjab, (2003) 5 Supreme 445. The maxim
"Falsus in uno falsus in omnibus" is merely a rule of caution. As has been
indicated by this Court in Sucha Singh 's case (supra), in terms of felicitous
metaphor, an attempt has to be made to separate grain from the chaff, truth
D from falsehood. When the prosecution is able to establish its case by acceptable
evidence, though in part, the accused can be convicted even if the co-accused
have been acquitted on the ground that the evidence led was not sufficient
to fasten guilt on them. But where the position is such that the evidence is
totally unreliable, and it wilt be impossible to separate truth from falsehood
to an extent that they are inextricably mixed up, and in the process of separation
E an absolute new case has to be reconstructed by divorcing essential details
presented by the prosecution completely from the context and background
against which they are made, conviction cannot be made.

The above position was highlighted in Narain v. State of MP., [2004]
2 sec 455.
F
We find that PW-1 's version has not been found credible on certain
aspects. But that per se cannot be a ground to discard his evidence even if
it is found to be otherwise credible. So far as the prosecution version is
concerned, he has ascribed particular roles and acts to the accused persons.
Though PWs 2 and 3 have turned hostile in respect of part of their evidence,
G it is fairly. settled position in law that even if part of evidence is discarded,
that cannot be a ground to discard the evidence, more particularly that part
of the evidence which is cogent and credible. The evidence and subsequent
acts have been attributed to A-4 in view of the evidence of PW- I which has
remained unaffected, in spite of the incisive cross-examination. The evidence
H on record is sufficient to establish the conviction. But we find that sentence
j...\
G. VENUGOPALASWAMY r. STA TE OF ANDHRA PRADESH [PASAYAT J.] 915

of l 0 years has been awarded for the offence punishable under Section 326 A
lPC. It is on the higher side. Custodial sentence of 5 years to A-I and A-4
for their conviction under Section 326 !PC would suffice. In the ultimate
result the appeal filed by A- I and A-4 are allowed to the extent of reduction
in sentence, and stands dismissed so far as A-2 and A-3 are concerned.

The appeal is disposed of as indicated above. B
K.K.T. Appeal disposed of.