Holding

In the absence of proof of the essential link establishing the accused's participation, the benefit of doubt prevails and the High Court's conviction is unsustainable.

Summary

The appellant Narendra Singh was accused of murdering his wife Bimlabai by throttling her and then setting her body on fire, allegedly to conceal a dowry dispute. The trial court acquitted all accused, but the Madhya Pradesh High Court reversed the acquittal, convicting the husband under Sections 302/34 IPC and both the husband and his mother under Section 201 IPC. On appeal, the Supreme Court examined whether the prosecution had proved the crucial link that the husband committed the murder and escaped, and whether the benefit of doubt should apply given the circumstantial nature of the evidence. The Court found that the prosecution failed to establish the accused's presence at the time of the crime, the escape route, and the motive beyond reasonable doubt, and that the post‑mortem report was not conclusively reliable. Consequently, the Court held that the High Court erred in overturning the acquittal, set aside its judgment, and restored the trial court's decision, releasing the accused on bail.

Issues considered

The adequacy of circumstantial evidence to sustain a conviction under Sections 302/34 and 201 IPC.
Whether the prosecution proved the essential link that the husband committed the murder and escaped via the window.
The applicability of the benefit of doubt and the burden of proof when an alibi is raised.
The reliability of the post‑mortem report in determining cause of death.
The correctness of the High Court's reversal of an acquittal under established legal principles.

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 313
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 201, s. 302, s. 34

Subjects

dowry deathcircumstantial evidencebenefit of doubtalibipost mortemmurderIPC sections 201,302,34criminal appealpresumption of innocence

Judgment

A NARENDRA SINGH AND ANR.
v.
STATE OF M.P.
··rt
APRIL 12, 2004

B [Y.K. SABHARWAL AND S.B. SINHA, JJ.]

Penal Code, 1860; Ss. 201 and 302/Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973;
Section 313: '
c Husband allegedly harassed wife for demand of dowry-Committed her
murder in collusion with his mother-Caused disappearance of evidence with
the help of mother, father and sister-Trial Court acquitted all the accused-
High Court convicting husband and mother-On appeal, Held: Findings of
the trial Court did not warrant interference by the High Court-High Court
D erred in holding that because accused was husband of the deceased, he had
a chance to throttle her without any resistance-On the one hand it held that
accused-mother along with accused-son liable for committing murder of the
deceased, on the other hand, mother was held guilty of the offence only under
Section 201 1PC-Since entire case is based on circumstantial evidence, all
links in the chain of circumstances need to be proved-One of the vital links
E about escaping ofaccused after committing the crime has not been established-
Benefit of doubt thereof must go to the accused-appellant-Judgment of High
Court set aside.
,...
The allegation against accused-appellant No.I was that he was
harassing his wife for more and more dowry and when some of the
F demands could not be met, he had committed her murder by throttling
and later in collusion with his mother-appellant No.2, father and sister
caused disappearance of evidence by setting the body of the deceased on
fire. FIR was lodged by the brother of the deceased. Police investigated
the matter and charge-sheeted the accused. Trial Court acquitted all the
G accused persons, holding that having committed the murder of his wife,
it was impossible for the accused-husband to move out from the place of
occurrence to escape by jumping from the window to the lane without
being noticed; and that the post mortem report was not reliable because ,
of the cuttings and overwriting therein. On appeal preferred by the State,

H 1148
~.
,

NARENDRA SINGH v. STATE OF M.P. 1149

High Court reversed the judgment of trial Court holding accused-husband A
guilty under Section 302/34 and Section 201 IPC, and appellant No.2 guilty
under Section 201 IPC and sentenced them accordingly. Hence, the
present appeal.

It was contended by the appellant that the post mortem report should
not have been relied upon by the High Court since burns have been held B
to be ante mortem in nature although cause of death was said to be due
to asphyxia; that presence of accused-husband at the place of occurrence
at the time of murder of the deceased-wife was not proved; that evidence
of some of the witnesses should not have been relied upon by the High
Court having regard to the improvement/omission/contradiction contained C
therein; that since it would be impossible for any person to jump from
the open space/window without being noticed and that too unhurt, the
findings of High Court believing the same to be true is untenable; that
the judgment of acquittal should not have been renewed by the High Court
without any cogent and sufficient reasons thereof; and that since
relationship between the accused-husband and deceased-wife was cordial, D
the demand of a meagre sum of money not met out by the in-laws, could
not be the motive behind the crime.

Respondent-State submitted that having regard to the facts and
circumstances of the case and nature of injury, commission of suicide by
deceased- wife by setting herself on fire was unlikely; that commission of E
the murder by intruder without being noticed was wholly improbable; that
refusal by the brother of the deceased to pay the money as demanded by
the accused established sufficient motive for the accused to commit murder
of his wife; that since accused failed to prove the plea of alibi as to the
proximity of time and the place of occurrence and time of murder? burden p
of proof lies upon the accused and he has failed to discharge the burden.

Allowing the appeal, the Court

HELD: 1.1. High Court considered the escape of the accused-
husband but did not assign any reason as to how the same can be said to G
have been established; such a case was not even made out by the
prosecution. Investigation has not been carried out by the Police to show
as to whether it was possible for a person to climb the wall before slipping
out of one of the two places as mentioned by the High Court nor any
material in support thereof was brought on record; that the witnesses did
not suggest in their testimony that one of the two open places would H
.\..---
\

1150 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2004] 3 S.C.R.

A otherwise be used by the offender as possible escape route; that if the time
of incident is taken into consideration, it would be well nigh possible to
believe that the accused had jumped from the window to the lane without
being noticed, findings of the trial Court that had any. person slipped or
gone away from the window, pedestrians through the lanes must have seen
B such person cannot be said to be irrational warranting interference by the
High Court; that there is no force in the finding of the High Court that
because the accused was the husband of the deceased he had a chance to
throttle her all of a sudden without any resistance; that since the. co-
accused (mother of the main accused) having sustained burn injuries in
her hand, the possibility of her presence at the time of setting the deceased
C on fire cannot be ruled out is contradictory to its ultimate finding that
she was guilty of offence only under Section 201 IPC and not under Section
302/34 thereof. 11158-D-E-F, G-H; 1159-B, C-D]

1.2. The accused were prejudiced by not being given a chance to
explain the purported material against them. Thus, it is not a case where
D no prejudice can be said to have been caused to them. [ll 58-F; ll59-A)

1.3. It is well-settled that benefit of doubt belonged to the accused.
It is further trite that suspicion, however, grave may be cannot take place
of proof. It is equally well-settled that there is a long distance between
'may be' and 'must be'; that even in a case where a plea of alibi is raised,
E the burden of proof remains on prosecution. Presumption of innocence
is a human right. Such presumption gets stronger when a judgment of
acquittal is passed. The legal principle laid down by this Court for
reversing the judgment of acquittal by a higher Court had not been
adhered to by the High Court. [ll59-E, F, G)
F Dhanna v. State of M.P .. [1996) 10 SCC 79 and Mahabir Singh v. State
of Haryana, [2001) 7 SCC 148 and Shailendra Pratap and Anr. v. State of
U.P .. 120031 1 SCC 761, relied on.

1.4. The entire case is based on circumstantial evidence. Pieces of
G circumstances, however strong may be, it is well-known that all links in
the chain must be proved. However, a vital link in the chain, viz.,
possibility of the accused-husband committing the offence, closing the door
and then sneaking out of the room had not been proved by the prosecution.
Having regard to the post mortem report, cause of death of the deceased
although shrouded in mystery but benefit thereof must go to the accused
H
NARENDRA SINGH v. STATE OF M.P. [SINHA. J.] 1151
..-J..
as in the event of there being two possible views, the one supporting the A
accused should be upheld. 11159-G-H; 1160-AI

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 298
of 1997.

From the Judgment and Order dated 20.9.96 of the Madhya Pradesh B
High Court in Crl. A. No. 464 of 1984.

Sushil Kumar Jain, Alok Bachawat, Sarad Singhania, Ms. Ruchi Kohli
and Ms. Anjali Doshi for the Appellants.

Ms. Vibha Datta Makhija for the Respondent. c
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

S.B. SINHA, J. The Appellant No. l herein by reason of the impugned
judgment reversing a judgment of acquittal passed by learned Sessions Judge,
Dhar on 6.1.1984 was found guilty of cornmission of an offence under Section D
302 of the Indian Penal Code for having committed murder of Bimlabai by
throttling on 6.5.1983 at about 5.30 p.m. at Dhanmandi, Dhar at house No.
16, Dhanmandi, Dhar as also under Section 201 of Indian Penal Code for
causing disappearance of evidence by setting her on fire after causing her
death; whereas the appellant No. 2 was found guilty of commission of an E
offence under Section 20 l of the Indian Penal Code.

The relationship between the appellants herein are son and mother.
Along with them, the husband of appellant No. 2 Hari Singh and their daughter
Kusum were chargesheeted for commission of murder of the aforementioned
>. Bimlabai. The deceased Bimlabai was married to the appellant No. I herein p
on or about 21.4.1982 in relation whereto the betrothal ceremony was held
in December, 1980. The appellant No. 1 after the said betrothal ceremony
was appointed as a bus conductor by the Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport
Corporation. About 4 and Y, months thereafter, he was suspended questioning
which he filed a civil suit.
G
At the relevant time, the family members of the appellants were living
as tenants in a portion in the upper storey of the house of Bansidhar, P. W. I.
Daulatram, another tenant, used to reside in the front portion in the first
storey in the same house. One Moi Babu was a tenant on the front portion
in the ground floor whereas Omprakash Shukla was tenant in the rear portion
H
~
\

1152 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2004] 3 S.C.R.

A thereof.
Allegedly a demand was made by the accused persons for a wrist watch
and a chain of gold at the time of marriage to which Ramsingh, PW5 (brother
of the deceased) expressed his inability. Sometimes later, the said demand
was reiterated. The appellant No. I was eventually dismissed from services
B whereafter financial assistance was allegedly given to him by Ram Singh.
The marriage of younger brother of Ramsingh, Rajendra was settled in
December, 1982. His Tika ceremony was to take place on 24.4.1983 at Indore.
Ramsingh came to the house of the accused persons to invite them and take
Bimla with him to his house. For the purpose of fighting out a suit as regard
C the termination of his service, Narendra allegedly asked for a sum of Rs.
2000 from Ramsingh wherefor he expressed his inability saying as his brother
is going to be married after one month he was not in a position to spare the
amount. Allegedly, thereupon Narendrasingh and Harisingh threatened stating
"You will have to give us an amount of Rs. 2000 otherwise we will not send
Bimla to attend the marriage ceremony of her brother Raju at Indore."
D
The incident in question took place on 6.5.1983. It is alleged that on
6.5.1983 at about 5 p.m. Asha, PW7 (daughter of Daulatram) saw signs of
fire coming out from the house occupied by the accused persons. PW2
Ramkunwar Bai also noticed the fire. They gave a call to the appellants but
none replied. PW-10 Kusha Bhau and others also went to the house to
E extinguish fire. Thereafter the fire brigade as also the police reached at the
place of occurrence. The dead body of Bimlabai was found lying in the
kitchen of the house in burnt condition. A jerry can, its cover and a match
box were also found near the dead body in the kitchen. The autopsy on the
dead body of Bimlabai was conducted at about 8.15 p.m. on 7.5.1983.
F Ram Singh, the informant came to learn about the said incident on the
next day. In relation to the said incident a First Information Report was
lodged by Ram Singh PW-5 at 6.30 p.m. on 7.5.1983 in the Police Station
Dhar. The appellants herein with Harisingh and Kusum were chargesheeted
under Sections 302 and 20 I read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
G The case thereafter was committed to the Court of Sessions. Before the learned
Sessions Judge, 17 witnesses were examined on behalf of the prosecution;
whereas 6 persons were examined as court witnesses. A plea of alibi was put
forth by the appellants herein in the trial stating that the appellant No. I was
attending a marriage ceremony in the house of lllias Khan, CW-3. The
H appellant No. 2 also raised a plea of alibi.
NARENDRASINGHv. STATEOFM.P. [SINHA,J.] 1153
PW-I Banshidhar is the owner of the house. PW-2 Ramkunwar Bai is A
an adjacent neighbour of the appellants. PW-3 Harak Chand Mittal is an
advocate, who lives at some distance from the house of accused persons, had
infonned the police about fire on phone. PW-4 Om Prakash is also a neighbour.
He was a witness to the inquest report, site plan and seizure memo. PW-5
Ramsingh is the first informant. PW-6 and CW-I are the doctors who B
conducted the post mortem examination over the dead body of Bimlabai.
PW-7 Asha, PW-IO Kusha Bhau, PW-13 Yashoda Bai, PW-14 Guiab Singh
)
are the other witnesses. PW-12 Bhagwanti Bai is the sister of the deceased.
The court witnesses were not examined by the prosecution and all of them
for some reason or the other were examined as court witnesses. CW2 to CW6
sought to prove the plea of alibi of the appellants. C
The learned Sessions Judge disbelieved the prosecution case and
recorded a judgment of acquittal inter alia on the ground that as admittedly
the door of the kitchen had to be broken open; and as the death of Bimlabai
presumably took place in between 4.15 p.m. and 5.30 p.m., it was impossible
for the assassin to jump from the window in the lane. Furthennore, as no D
person has seen the assassin, possibly it was a case of suicide. Assuming that
it was a case of murder, the learned Sessions Judge wondered, keeping in
view the place of occurrence vis-a-vis the points of possible entries thereto,
as to how the assassin of Bimla made his exodus from that room.

The learned Sessions Judge did not fully rely upon the post mortem E
report having regard to certain cuttings and over-writings therein. The learned
Sessions Judge opined that although no ma/a fide intention could be attributed
to the doctors, there existed a possibility that they committed some mistakes
in recording their opinion as regard the cause of death. It was further held
that the plea of alibi of the accused persons could neither be ignored nor said F
to be unreliable.

The learned Sessions Judge also disbelieved the evidence of PW-I
Bansidhar holding that from his evidence the presence of the appellants at the
place of occurrence at the relevant time had not been proved.
G
The State preferred an appeal there-against. The said appeal was heard
by a Division Bench of the High Court comprising Justice A.B. Qureshi and
Justice V.D. Gyani. Whereas Qureshi, J. despite holding that the death was
homicidal in nature, was of the opinion that the guilt of the accused persons
was not brought home; whereas Gyani, J. allowed the State appeal holding
the appellants guilty under Sections 302/34 and Section 20 I of the Indian H
1154 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2004] 3 S.C.R.

A Penal Code and sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment. In view of the
difference of opinion the matter was assigned to Chitre, J. by the Chief
Justice of the High Court. By reason of the impugned judgment dated 20th
September, 1996 agreeing with the judgment of Gyani, J. the learned Judge
held the appellant No. I to be guilty for commission of an offence under
Section 302 read with 20 I of the Indian Penal Code and the appellant No. 2
B to be guilty for commission of an offence under Section 20 I of the Indian
Penal Code and sentenced her to undergo three years of rigorous imprisonment.
A judgment of acquittal was recorded in favour of Harisingh whereas Kusum
was although convicted for commission of an offence under Section 20 I of
the Indian Penal Code but was sentenced to the period already undergone.
c It was held:

"72. Now, therefore, what comes out in the case is that:
(i) there was a demand of dowry which was not fulfilled.
Narendrasingh was annoyed. Thus, there was motive for murder.
D
(ii) Vimlabai met homicidal death by throttling and thereafter was
set to fire. The setting of fire must have been with intent to
cause disappearance of evidence for s~reening the offender;
(iii) At least three persons, i.e., Narendrasingh, Gulbadanbai and
E Kusum were present in the house in the after-noon and till the
body was found inside the kitchen room. Had the murderer been
anybody else Vimlabai must have raised alarm. Persons in the
family including these accused persons could have also raised
alarm and caused resistance to such murder;
(iv) As no alarm was raised by Vimlabai, this goes to show that the
F
person (murderer) must have been close relation of her and in
all probability the husband. A Hindu wife while assaulted by
her husband would not cause resistance. Sometimes even alarms
are not raised unless the injuries caused are very painful and
serious."
G
Mr. Sushi! Kumar Jain, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the
appellants inter alia would submit that the preponderance of evidence not
only show that the post mortem report should not have been relied upon by
,
the High Court having regard to the fact that the burns have been held to be
ante mortem in nature although the cause of death was said to be asphyxia.
H It was pointed out that the findings of the High Court to the effect that the
NARENDRASINGHv. STATEOFM.P. [S!NHA.J.J 1155

death was a homicidal one by asphyxia was based on two factors: A
(i) no carbon particles were found in the respiratory tract or the
trachea, and
(ii) 200 CC blood was found in front of pharynx and in the part of
tracheal and sub-surrounding subcutaneous tissues.
B
The learned counsel wou Id urge that the carbon particles cannot be
seen with open eyes particularly when there was blood 211d as such it was
) necessary to remove the blood by opening the skull or through legs.

The learned counsel would further submit that presence of accused at
the time of death cannot be said to have been proved by the prosecution as C
the court witnesses categorically stated about their presence at the relevant
time at the house of Illias Khan. It was urged that the evidences of PW-I
Banshidhar, PW-2 Ramkunwar Bai and PW-7 Asha should not have been
relied upon by the High Court as regard presence of the appellant No. I
having regard to the improvement/omission/ contradiction contained in their D
•
statements. The learned counsel would submit that PW-I has been contradicted
>
in material particulars by Inder Dhobi CW-5 whose presence had not been
disputed by the prosecution witness. It was pointed out that the statements of
the witnesses examined on behalf of the prosecution were recorded on the
2nd or 3rd day of the occurrence and thus the same could not have been
relied upon. Our attention had also been drawn to the fact that according to E
PW-I himself he had reached his house about 5.i5 p.m. whereafter he went
to latrine and only after his coming out therefrom, he noticed the fire, washed
· his hands, climbed on the top of shed when Nadkar and lnder Dhobi were
also present; and in that view of the matter he cannot be a witness as regard
the first part of the incident as by that time, even the doors of the kitchen had p
also been broken open and people had already arrived in large number. It was
further contended that it was admitted by PW-I that he came to know about
the death of Bimlabai from Shri Mittal, which fact also makes his statement
doubtful.

As regard the finding of the High Court that Bimlabai died in between G
3.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m., Mr. Jain would point out that the evidence of PW-
! Banshidhar, PW-2 Ramkunwar Bai and PW-7 Asha would categorically
show that the incident must have taken place after 5.00 p.m. The learned
counsel laid emphasis on the fact that admittedly water in the tap comes at
5.00 p.m. whereafter only the fire was noticed by the witnesses examined by H
1156 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2004] 3 S.C.R.

A the prosecution.
The finding of the High Court to the effect that the appellant No.
after commission of the offence locked the room inside and slipped out of the
window, Mr. Jain would urge, is untenable keeping in view the height of the
window, the size of the room being 5'x 6' as also the fact that some people
B had already gathered near the water tap and, thus, it would be impossible for
anyone to jump from the open space without being noticed and that too
remaining unhurt.

A judgment of acquittal without any cogent and sufficient reasons should
C not be reversed, Mr. Jain would argue.

The learned counsel would further submit that the prosecution has not
been able to prove any motive for commission of the offence as the prosecution
witnesses accepted that the relationship between the husband and wife was
cordial and only because a sum of Rs. 2000 was asked for the same by itself
D could not .be the motive on the part of the accused persons, for commission ._
of the offence.

Ms. Vibha Datta Makhija, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the
State, on the other hand, would support the judgment of the High Court inter
alia contending that; whereas the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge was
E based on surmises and conjectures, the High Court assigned sufficient and
cogent reasons for arriving at its findings. It was pointed out that in a case
like the present one, the Court should consider the matter having regard to
three scenarios in mind, viz.:

(i) Suicide committed by Bimlabai;
F (ii) Murder by intruder; and
(iii) Murder by the accused;

and arriving at a finding upon excluding the one or the other possibility.

G The learned counsel would contend that the deceased was a young girl
and in view of the fact that she must have been having the same state of mind
for more than a year and, thus, she was unlikely to commit suicide only
because she was not sent by her in-laws to attend the marriage of her brother.
In any event, having regard to the presence of ligature mark on her neck,

H
NARENDRA SINGH v. STATE OF M.P. [SINHA, J.] 1157

commission of suicide by self strangulation and thereafter setting herself on A
fire must be ruled out.

The learned counsel would contend that commission of murder of
Bimlabai by an intruder is wholly improbable. It was pointed out that PW-
2, PW-7, CW-2 and CW-6 categorically stated that the appellant No. I was
at home at about 3.00-3.30 p.m. The learned counsel would contend that if B
the appellants and Kusum were present in the house and if the story that
immediately prior to the occurrence the family was v.sitd by PW-13, it is
impossible for an intruder to come and commit the offence without being
noticed. The learned counsel would argue that such an offence is not possible
to be committed without drawing the attention of others, without any noise C
and without any shriek by the victim which are clear pointers to the fact that
throttling of the deceased must have been committed by somebody who was
known to her and had access, and, in that view of the matter the offender
cannot be any other person but the appellant No. 1.

Ms. Makhija would contend that demand of dowry, an unhappy marriage, D
' the threat by the appellant No. 1 and his father and PWS's refusal to give to
the accused person the sum of Rs. 2000 on demand by them, establish sufficient
motive for the accused persons to commit the murder of Bimlabai and then
to make the same look like a case of suicide. The bum injuries suffered by
the appellant No. 2 in hand is also a pointer to the fact, Ms. Makhija would
contend, that she had also taken part in setting fire on the deceased. E
It was urged that as the plea of alibi of the appellants have not been
proved and keeping in view the proximity of time and the place of occurrence
and time of murder, it can safely be presume:! that the entire occurrence took
place within I 0-15 minutes and it was possible for the appellant No. I to F
come back from the House of lllias Khan and upon commission of the crime
go back to his house to show his absence. Furthermore, the burden of proof
when a plea of alibi has been found to be false lies upon the accused persons,
Ms. Makhija would argue.

It is a case which, in our considered opinion, requires a broad based G
consideration.

We will proceed on the basis that the death of Bimlabai was a homicidal
one. We will also assume that the contents of the post mortem report are
correct and, thus, the death of Bimlabai was caused due tO asphyxia. We may
furt'~er assume that the appellants herein .have failed to prove their plea of H
1158 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2004] 3 S.C.R.

A alibi. What, however, is baffling to us on the manner in which the offence
is alleged to have been committed. The High Court arrived at its findings
relying upon the spot map prepared by learned trial Judge which indicates
that there existed a window in the kitchen without any grill; the height whereof
from the road is said to be 11 ft. holding :

B "71. From the map proved by the prosecution, the site map and the
note prepared on the direction of the Judge go to show that there
were two places wherefrom a person in the kitchen and the side room
of kitchen could slip away; (i) by window which is nearly I 0 to I I
feet in height from the ground. (It is note worthy that it is not a
construction with plain wall upto 11 feet but with residential quarters
c in the ground floor and therefore, it was not impossible to slip away
from that window after commission of murder), and (ii) the other
possibility that the person who committed murder came out from the
gap between the wall containing door No. IO and 12 and the roof
which was probably closed subsequently and, therefore, marks of
D new constructions of the wall above the door upto roof."

The High Court, therefore, considered the escape of the assassin of
Bimlabai through one of the two gaps as possible but did not assign any
reason as to how the same can be said to have been established. Furthermore,
it does not appear that such a case was made out by the prosecution.
E Investigation in this behalf does not appear to have been carried out to show
as to whether it was possible for a person to climb the wall before slipping
out of one of the two places mentioned by the High Court nor any material
in support thereof was brought on record. The witnesses did not say that they
had seen any foot mark of any person on the wall nor any other evidence
F suggests that one of the two open places would otherwise be used by the
offender as possible escape routes. If the time of incident is taken to be
nearer 5 p.m. than 3.30 p.m., it would be well nigh possible for the appellant
No. I to climb the wall, sneak through the open places and jump from the
window to the lane without being noticed. It also does not appear that the
attention of the appellants had been drawn by the Sessions Judge to any piece
G of evidence seeking their explanation thereabout in their examination under
Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Had it been the prosecution
case that the appellant No. 1 after throttling the deceased and setting her on
fire escaped through one of the two open places mentioned by the High
Court, it was obligatory on the part of the Court to give an opportunity to the
H appellants to explain thereabout. Such a circumstance, had it been put to the
,
·-....
NARENDRASINGHv. STATEOFM.P. [SINHA,.!.] 1159

appellant no. I, could have been explained away by him. The appellants were, A
therefore, prejudiced by not being given a chance to explain the said purported
material against him. It is not a case where no prejudice can be said to have
been caused to the appellants.

The findings of the learned Sessions Judge to the effect that had any
person slipped or gone away from that window, pedestrians through the lanes B
must have seen such person cannot, in our opinion, be said to be irrational
warranting interference by the High Court. If the observations of the High
Court to the effect that persons going through the road do not keep a vigil
on such movements, is correct, the same would by itself give rise to some
surmises keeping in view the fact that there existed a greater possibility of C
the appellant no. I being seen as his jumping from the window would have
been abnormal which would attract the attention of the persons who had
assembled to take water from the tap. We also fail to see any force in the
finding of the High Court to the effect that only because the appellant no. I
was the husband of the deceased he had a chance to throttle her all of a
sudden without any resistance. The finding of the High Court to the effect D
that Gulbadanbai having sustained burn injuries in her hand, the probability
> of her presence at this time of setting of fire cannot be ruled out is contradictory
to its ultimate finding that she was guilty of offence only under Section 20 I
of the Indian Penal Code ·and not under Section 302/34 thereof.

It is now well-settled that benefit of doubt belonged to the accused. It E
is further trite that suspicion, however, grave may be cannot take place of a
proof. It is equally well-settled that there is a long distance between 'may be'
and 'must be'.

It is also well-known that even in a case where a plea of alibi is raised, F
the burden of proof remains on prosecution. Presumption of innocence is a
human right. Such presumption gets stronger when a judgment of acquittal
is passed. This Court in a number of decisions has set out the legal principle
for reversing the judgment of acquittal by a higher Court, (See Dhanna v.
State of MP., [1996] 10 SCC 79, Mahabir Singh v. State of Haryana, [2001]
7 sec 148 and Shailendra Pratap and Anr. V. State of U.P., [2003] 1 sec G
761 ), which had not been adhered to by the High Court.

The entire case is based on circumstantial evidence. Pieces of
circumstances, however, strong may be, it is well-known that all links in the
chain must be proved. In this case a vital link in the chain, viz., possibility
of the appellant No, 1 committing the offence, closing the door and then H
1160 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2004] 3 S.C.R.

A sneaking out of the room from one of the two places had not been proved by
the prosecution.

We, thus, having regard to the post mortem report, are of the opinion
that the cause of death of Bimlabai although is shrouded in mystery but
benefit thereof must go to the appellants as in the event of there being two
B possible views, the one supporting the accused should be upheld.
For the reasons aforementioned, we are of the opinion that the impugned
judgment cannot be sustained which is set aside. Accordingly, the appeal is
allowed. The appellants are on bail. They are discharged from the bail bonds.

S.K.S. Appeal allowed.

'