Forty-one years after a former soldier was given a life sentence in a murder case, the Allahabad High Court has set aside the judgment, citing contradictions in the statements of witnesses.
A bench comprising Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra allowed the petition of Murari Lal, who is out on bail in the case.
According to the FIR filed on July 6, 1982, Seodan Singh had alleged Murari Lal had opened fire on his brother Pool Singh with his licensed gun when the latter was going from his village to Wazeerganj.
A sessions court in Badaun had on May 3, 1983, convicted Murari under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
"The contradictions in the statements of the prosecution witnesses were also very glaring. The prosecution witness 1 had stated that the dead body was taken to the police station from the place of occurrence, but the prosecution witness 4 had stated that the dead body was not there at the police station ever," the high court said in its order last month.
"What is more, the Court is of the view that when prosecution witness 2 was the sole eye-witness and his statements had not been corroborated by the other witnesses present, then the evidence of the sole eye-witness had to be examined properly and with caution which has not been done in the present case," it said.
The high court in its judgment dated August 14 observed that the contradiction in the statements of the prosecution witnesses is very glaring.
