Corroboration

Corroboration is only a rule of caution and not a rule of law.

Insufficient, contradictory, discrepant direct evidence is deemed adequate to hold a criminal charge as 'not proved', but where direct evidence remains in the field and it is natural and confidence-inspiring then the requirement of independent corroboration is only a rule of abundant caution and not a mandatory rule to be applied invariably in each case.

If testimony of an eye-witness is found reliable and trustworthy then there is hardly any need to look for any corroboration.

Corroboration is only a rule of caution and not a rule of law.

Failure of direct evidence is always sufficient to hold a criminal charge as 'not proved' but where the direct evidence holds the field and stands the test of being natural and confidence-inspiring then the requirement of independent corroboration is only a rule of abundant caution and not a mandatory rule to be applied invariably in each case.

Accused was charged for kidnapping the son of complainant for ransom, however, he was released after the payment of Rs. ten lac

Evidence of approver was corroborated in all material respects given by the complainant in respect of accused being with approver when she left with his son in broad day light who he identified, the ransom negotiations, the amount of ransom which was settled and the payment of the ransom and the place where the abductee was released after the payment of ransom

Evidence of approver was corroborated in all material respects by abductee in respect of accused being with approver when he left with them in broad day light to show them properties

Abductee had identified two accused who were present when he recorded his statement under S.164, Cr.P.C as his kidnappers and also recognized them again in court

Identification parade was not necessary as the abductee was with them for 8 to 9 days and would have got a good look at them and as such would have been able to easily identify them

Abductee also corroborated approver as to where he was held captive and demanded the ransom and the place where he was released after the payment of ransom

Abductee had no ill will or enmity with any of the accused and had no reason to falsely implicate the accused and as such his evidence which was not dented during cross-examination was believable

Evidence of approver was corroborated in all material respects by the witness, who was aware of the ransom negotiations, the amount of ransom which was settled and actually paid the ransom amount to the accused at the place mentioned by approver

Said witness had no ill will or enmity with any of the accused and had no reason to falsely implicate the accused and as such his evidence in respect of that aspect of the case was believable

Circumstances established that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt against two accused

Appeals against conviction were dismissed accordingly.

If court is satisfied about the truthfulness of direct evidence then the corroborative evidence is not of much significance

Corroboration is not a rule of law but is that of prudence.

Record showed that the medical evidence and post mortem report of Medical Officer, who was the Medico-Legal Officerand carried out the post mortem on the deceased, fully supported the prosecution case and she found the cause of death to be on account of multiple stab wounds

Circumstances established that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt

Appeal against conviction was dismissed accordingly.

If the eyewitness account is found reliable and trustworthy then there is hardly any need to look for any corroboration.

Corroboration was only a rule of caution and not a rule of law.

Abiding by Islamic jurisprudential principles, applying the constitutionally guaranteed right to fair trial and due process, and acting prudently to ensure that an innocent is not convicted wrongly in respect of offences relating to religion, when there is only the improbable oral testimony of witnesses, then there must be corroboration

Oftentimes righteous zeal, moral outrage, and/or indignation also steers the prosecution to a pre-determined destination by eclipsing the general standard of proof in criminal cases; that is, beyond reasonable doubt.

Rule of caution requires for independent corroboration where enmity exists between the parties.

One tainted piece of evidence could not corroborate another tainted piece of evidence.

Accused was charged that he along with co-accused committed the murder of brother of the complainant and also injured the witness

Medical evidence was in complete harmony with the ocular testimony of eyewitnesses

No conflict could be pointed out to create a dent in the prosecution case

Circumstances established that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused beyond the shadow of doubt

Appeal against conviction was dismissed accordingly.

Statement of the Medical Officer had also been showing that deceased A.S.I. had received nine firearm injuries while deceased S.H.O. had received two injuries

Medico-legal evidence had fully been supporting case of the prosecution

No conflict between ocular account and medical evidence could be highlighted by defence

Circumstances established that case of the prosecution stood proved from all angles and there remained no doubt regarding culpability of the accused

Appeal against conviction was dismissed accordingly.

Co-accused was equally assigned the role of inflicting iron rod blow at the head of deceased but he had already been acquitted of the charge by the trial court by disbelieving the prosecution evidence to his extent and as such, the same could not be believed to the extent of the present accused, having exactly identical role

Circumstances established that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt

Appeal against conviction was allowed, in circumstances.

If said evidence was allowed to be done then very necessity of corroboration would be frustrated.

Medical Officer fully supported the eye-witness/prosecution evidence as he confirmed that the deceased was brought dead to the hospital by a sharp cutting substance (churri) and some by biting which led to his death as deposed by the eye-witnesses

Post mortem was carried out with promptitude which would rule out the cooking up of any false case

Circumstances established that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt

Appeal against conviction was dismissed accordingly.

Where direct evidence remains in field with test of its being natural and confidence inspiring then requirement of independent corroboration is only a rule of abundant caution and not a mandatory rule to be applied invariably in each case.

Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, ghayr-jaifah-damiyah, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace

Appreciation of evidence

Ocular and medical evidence

Corroboration

Scope

Prosecution case was that the complainant assaulted on WAPDA Employees while they were busy in removing old transformer, due to which one official became injured

Record showed that on the day of incident complainant along with injured and others went to the place of incident in order to perform their official duty being employees of WAPDA to replace transformer for which the accused refused to allow them to substitute the same because of difference in range

Said fact had been categorically deposed by the complainant during his examination-in-chief

Such evidence also found support/corroboration from evidence of injured witness and other witness, who had also corroborated that accused had become annoyed, insulted the employees of WAPDA and pull down the transformer by using operating rod resulting one employee falling down and sustained injuries

Complainant and witnesses had established motive behind the above offence committed by accused

Accused had failed to establish any mala fide or ill-will/enmity on the part of complainant and witnesses to have falsely implicated the accused in the present case

Fact of having sustained injuries by the injured was also corroborated by Medical Officer who had also produced medical certificate along with his final opinion that he had sustained injuries in terms of Ghayr Jaifah Damiah

Such fact was also corroborated by Investigating Officer and mashir of injuries by producing mashirnamas of injuries

On perusal of record it revealed that Trial Court and first appellate court had attended to all the material aspects of the case and had considered each and every important piece of evidence and after their proper appraisal rendered concurrent findings

Accused had failed to point out any illegality, material irregularity and misreading or non-reading of material evidence available on the record to call for interference in revisional jurisdiction of the Court

Revision application was dismissed, in circumstances.

Conviction in a rape case can well be recorded on sole statement of victim but only if the same finds corroboration and appears to be natural and confidence inspiring.

Rule of independent corroboration was not an absolute mandatory rule to be applied in each and every case, rather it was a rule of abundant caution which was applied in the cases in which the direct evidence was not of the standard on the basis of which a definite opinion could be formed.

Record showed that in the crime report, complainant had specifically nominated the accused for making firing upon deceased

First Information Report was lodged promptly

Name of son of deceased as witness was mentioned in the report, that at the time of occurrence he was with the deceased

Said witness further added that the accused had run away towards road and in the meanwhile a witness also arrived and took the deceased to hospital in a vehicle

Said witness narrated the whole story with regard to the occurrence and had correctly stated the date, time, place and manner in which the occurrence had taken place

Another witness was an eye-witness of the occurrence and stated the same story which was narrated by son of deceased

Said witnesses attributed the role of firing to the accused and gave consistent, natural and straightforward ocular account of the occurrence

Defence subjected them to lengthy cross-examination, but their testimony remained unshaken and un-shattered

Nothing was in cross-examination to show that the accused was falsely implicated in the case

Presence of the said witnesses on the spot was proved

Investigating Officer had recorded statement of the said witnesses soon after the occurrence

Testimony of the eye-witnesses was duly corroborated by the recovery of blood-stained clothes of the deceased

Medical evidence produced by the prosecution supported and corroborated testimony of the eye-witnesses and no contradiction could be pointed out by the defence

Parties were known to each other previously and the question of mistaken identity of the real culprits did not arise and it was hard to believe that both the witnesses and even the complainant would substitute the real culprits with the accused

No motive had been set up by the prosecution

Absence of the motive would not affect the prosecution case nor would cast any shadow of doubt on the prosecution case

Both the prosecution and defence had suppressed the actual facts, leading to the incident

Possibility could not be ruled out that something must have happened between the parties, which led to the said incident but had not been brought to surface, even otherwise, it did not appeal to a prudent mind that without any strong motive the accused would take such an extreme step of killing the deceased, when there was no enmity

Sentence of death was not compatible with the circumstances of the case, therefore, sentence of imprisonment for life would commensurate with the gravity of offence committed by the accused

Conviction of the accused under S.302(b), P.P.C. was maintained but his sentence of death was altered to imprisonment for life, in circumstances

Appeal was dismissed with said modi-fication.

One tainted piece of evidence could not corroborate another tainted piece of evidence.

Mere assertion that medical evidence was in conflict with oral evidence was not enough rather it was bounded duty of defence to explain as to how and on what ground the medical evidence conflicted with the oral evidence

Unnatural death of the deceased was not disputed by the defence

Analysis of prosecution evidence showed that the prosecution had proved the charge against the accused beyond reasonable doubt

Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances accordingly.

Allegation against the accused was that he raped a 5/6 years old girl in an under-construction room on the rooftop of his house and thereafter committed her murder

Minor deceased was examined by Woman Medical Officer and in her report, rape of the minor girl prior to her murder was abundantly clear as the Woman Medical Officer had observed bruises marks on neck of the deceased and mentioned the cause of death as asphyxia due to manual strangulation and throttling

Said observations of the doctor were in line with confession of the accused wherein he had admitted that the minor became unconscious when he subjected her to rape and thereafter he killed her by pressing her neck

Medical Evidence, thus, abundantly corroborated the confession of the accused

Circumstances established that prosecution had proved the charge against the accused beyond shadow of reasonable doubt

Appeal against conviction was dismissed accordingly.

Murasila/dying declaration revealed that the deceased, then injured, had directly charged the accused with specific role of firing at him

Dying declaration of the deceased, then injured, had been corroborated by eye-witness in his statement

Said witness had been subjected to lengthy and taxing cross-examination, but nothing beneficial to defence could be extracted from him

Said witness corroborated the dying declaration of the deceased, then injured and remained consistent with the version set forth by the deceased, then injured in his dying declaration

Witness corroborated the dying declaration on all material particulars of the occurrence i.e. day, date, time and place of occurrence as well as the role of the accused and of co-accused

Like deceased, then injured, eye-witness also charged the accused with specific role of firing at the deceased

No doubt, witness was the uncle of the deceased but on the sole ground of his close relationship with the deceased, his testimony could not be discarded because he had furnished a straightforward and confidence inspiring testimony corroborated by circumstantial evidence in the shape of recoveries and supported by medical evidence

No evidence, whatsoever, had been brought by the defence to prove any enmity or grudge of eye-witness with the accused

Medical Officer, who conducted autopsy on the dead body of the deceased, supported the ocular account furnished and the dying declaration of the deceased, then injured

Circumstances established that the prosecution had proved the guilt of appellant up to the hilt through dying declaration of the deceased, then injured corroborated by testimony of eye-witness, supported by medical evidence as well as the circumstantial evidence in the shape of recoveries

Trial Court had rightly held accused guilty of the offence to which no exception could be taken

No evidence had been brought on record to prove the motive advanced by the prosecution, therefore, the Trial Court was justified by not awarding capital sentence to the accused

Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances.

In the present case, the medical evidence produced by the prosecution proved that the deceased had received injuries with a blunt weapon on the vital part of his body and he succumbed to the said injuries

Medical evidence fully supported the ocular account

Probable time between death and post-mortem as noted by the doctor coincided with the ocular account

Post-mortem examination of the dead body of deceased had been conducted quite promptly leaving no room for deliberations or fabrication of a story

Appeal was dismissed with modification in sentence.

Medical evidence produced by the prosecution in the case proved that the deceased had received the fatal injuries on the vital parts of his body with a firearm weapon and he succumbed to the said injuries

Medical evidence fully supported the ocular account

Probable time between death of deceased and post-mortem examination as noted by the Medical Officer coincided with the ocular account

Medical Officer opined that the injuries were sufficient to cause death in a very short period of time in ordinary course of life under ordinary circumstances and was caused by a firearm weapon

Accused had been saddled with the responsibility of causing the said fatal injury

Ocular account was fully corroborated by the medical evidence available on record

Said circumstances ascertained that the intent of the accused was to cause death and that he was guilty of qatl-i-amd

Appeal against conviction was dismissed, however, the sentence of death awarded to the accused under S. 302(b), P.P.C. was altered to imprisonment for life, in circumstances.

Medical Officer, who conducted post-mortem of the deceased, had opined that all the entry wounds had been caused by a firearm weapon

Said witness also stated that all the said injuries observed on the person of the deceased were sufficient to cause his death in the ordinary course of nature as they had caused substantial damage to the vital organs of the deceased

Accused had been saddled with the responsibility of causing the said fatal injuries

Ocular account was fully corroborated by the medical evidence available on record

Appeal against conviction was dismissed, however, the sentence of death awarded to the accused under S.302(b), P.P.C. was altered to imprisonment for life.

Accused was charged for committing murder of the brother of the complainant murder of the brother of the complainant and also injuring other person by firing

Record showed that the medical evidence was corroborative/ supportive of the eye-witness evidence in terms of the number of injuries received by the deceased and the injured, the place where the injuries were received and the weapon used to inflict those injuries fire-arm

Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances.

Accused and co-accused were alleged to be the beneficiaries of a private limited company ('the company') which launched a private housing scheme

Held, that Magistrate recorded the approver's statement without any notice to the accused and co-accused, thus depriving them of their right to cross examine the witness, which was a flagrant violation of S.164(1-A), Cr.P.C.

Approver was also not informed by the Magistrate that upon conclusion of his statement, his custody shall not be remitted back to the prosecution

Statement of approver, thus, also failed to meet the criteria prescribed by the provisions of S.265-J, Cr.P.C., for it to be admitted as evidence

Said statement otherwise found no corroboration by any means

Besides perusal of the statement of approver, showed that it hardly contained anything which lent credence to the prosecution case or furthered their endeavour to lay blame for any alleged or perceived infraction by the company on the accused and co-accused

Approver's claim of shareholding of accused and co-accused in the company and their control over it was wholly contrary to the record

Accused and co-accused were granted bail.

Court, in a case involving capital punishment, will not base conviction solely on the testimony of an interested witness unless his testimony finds corroboration by some other independent and unimpeachable piece of evidence or circumstances of the case.

Court, in a case involving capital punishment, will not base conviction solely on the testimony of an interested witness unless his testimony finds corroboration by some other independent and unimpeachable piece of evidence or circumstances of the case.

Ocular account must sustain beyond shadow of doubt, which for abundant caution must have corroboration to eliminate chance of doubt

Where ocular account fails the corroborative pieces of evidence become immaterial as they alone cannot sustain conviction.

Evidence of the said witness was subjected to lengthy cross-examination, but nothing beneficial had come out on record in favour of the accused

Victim had narrated the whole story with regard to the occurrence

Statement of the victim was in line with his earlier statement

Said witness was cross-examined at sufficient length but nothing fruitful had come out on record in favour of the defence

Both the complainant and victim remained consistence and firm in their deposition

Said witnesses accurately uttered the date, time and manner in which the accused committed sodomy with the victim

Ocular testimony produced by the prosecution was direct in nature and the same remained unshaken, consistent, confidence inspiring on all material counts

Medical evidence reflected that victim had been sexually assaulted

Medical evidence had remained unshaken and unchallenged

Medical certificate of accused showed that he was potent and able for sexual intercourse

Both the ocular and medical evidence were in line with each other

Admittedly, the victim was a minor, but nothing on record showing that he was tutored by his elder

Statement of the victim had fully been corroborated by the circumstantial witnesses and medical evidence

Accused had failed to point out any misreading and non-reading of evidence and major contradictions in the statements of witnesses or any material illegality or irregularity in the impugned judgment warranting interference

Appeal being devoid of merits was dismissed.

Record showed that mother of one of the deceased lady had brought on record the past relations of the deceased with accused

Medical Officer who examined the dead bodies of the victims had opined the cause of death as suffocation and strangulation while the private parts of both the deceased showed that they were subjected to forcible sexual intercourse and raped from both sides

Medical Officer who carried out the medical examination of the accused had opined that the accused was potent and able to perform act of zina

Besides, the semen samples of the accused were also taken and the same were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory for examination along with the shalwar, qameez and chaddar of deceased as well as a piece of cloth

Forensic Science Laboratory issued report and opined that the said articles excluding the chaddar of deceased were stained with human sperm

Multiple bruises on the persons of both the deceased would reflect not only their sexual assault and brutal murder, but also their attempt to rescue themselves from the clutches of the culprits

Circumstances established that the prosecution had succeeded in proving the charge against the accused

Three accused persons including the accused had been booked in the crime

Except the accused, the remaining accused persons were absconding, hence their pleas were yet to come on record

One of the deceased had kept illicit relations with the accused and absconding accused out of her free will and consent, therefore, awarding of capital punishment to the accused was unwarranted

While upholding the conviction of accused under Ss. 376(2) & 302, P.P.C., his sentence of death was converted into imprisonment for life

Appeal was dismissed with said modification.

Retracted confession was to be corroborated by some other independent evidence for recording conviction.

Medical Officer, who examined the deceased, then injured, found firearm entry wound on right side of head, occipital region, with corresponding exit on frontal region of his head

Medical Officer, who conducted post-mortem of the deceased, had also affirmed the said firearm wound of the deceased

Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances.

Record showed that occurrence had taken place in a day light, therefore, question of mistaken identity did not arise, particularly, when the accused and the deceased being co-villagers were already known to each other

Medical evidence furnished by two Medical Officers was in consonance with the dying declaration

No reason and circumstance had been brought on record by the defence so as to remotely suggest substitution and false implication of the accused in the case

Positive Serologist report with regard to last wearing bloodstained garments of the deceased corroborated the dying declaration

Un-explained absconsion of the accused soon after the occurrence was yet another circumstance which spoke about his guilty conscious

Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances.

Albiet Art. 16 of the Qanun-e-Shahadat, 1984, makes an accomplice a competent witness, Art.129(b) provides a sort of rider thereto when it enacts that the Court may presume "that an accomplice is unworthy of the credit unless he is corroborated in material particulars."

Rule 5 of Chap. 14, Vol. III, High Court (Lahore) Rules and Orders, also stipulates that since the evidence of an approver being that of an accomplice is prima facie of a tainted character, it should be scrutinized with utmost care and accepted with caution

Rule 5 adds that as a matter of law, pure and simple, a conviction is not bad merely because it proceeds upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice but it has become almost a universal rule that conviction cannot be based on the testimony of an accomplice unless it is corroborated in material particulars

As to the amount of corroboration which is necessary, no hard and fast rule can be laid down; it will depend upon various factors, such as the nature of the crime, the nature of the approver's evidence, the extent of his complicity and so forth

Corroboration is considered not only in respect of the general story of the approver but also in respect of facts establishing the accused's identity and his participation in the crime

No strait jacket formula can be laid down as to the amount of corroboration but it must be in material particulars.

Record showed that it was a day light occurrence and the presence of the eye-witnesses at the crime scene could not be doubted as the parties were known to each other

Eye-witnesses had furnished the mode and manner of occurrence that the accused murdered the deceased and managed their escape good

Eye-witnesses had assigned a specific role to accused of causing firearm injuries to the deceased, corroborated by medical evidence

Incident was promptly reported

Eye-witnesses stated that accused was responsible for fire-arm injuries to the deceased which proved fatal

Accused led to the recovery of pistol .30-bore as well as churra

Enmity between the parties was not only established rather admitted by the defence in their statement recorded under S. 342, Cr.P.C.

Record transpired that the case of co-accused was distinguishable from the accused

Investigating Agency had not confirmed participation of co-accused in the occurrence

Name of the co-accused was mentioned in column No. 2 of the report submitted under S.173, Cr.P.C. being innocent

Said co-accused was not arrested in the present case

Declaration of innocence was never challenged by the complainant party before any forum by way of private complaint or otherwise

Co-accused was attributed repeated churra blows

Investigating Agency confirmed that co-accused was disabled and was suffering from polio

Investigating Officer had admitted in the cross-examination that co-accused joined the investigation voluntarily

No recovery was effected from the co-accused

Prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the presence of co-accused with the accused at the time of the occurrence in furtherance of common intention of both of them to murder the deceased

Motive set up by the prosecution was that brother of the accused was murdered and brother of the deceased was nominated as accused in that case

Said fact constituted mitigating circumstance in favour of the accused

In such circumstances, conviction of accused was maintained under S. 302(b), P.P.C., but the sentence of death awarded to him was altered to that of imprisonment for life

Appeal of co-accused was allowed and he was acquitted by setting aside conviction and sentence recorded by the Trial Court, in circumstances.

Victim had been wearing the same shalwar without washing herself immediately after the act, thus, it was quite possible that her clothes were stained with semen

Victim and prosecution witnesses did not have any motive to make a false accusation against the accused, with the charge of rape at the risk of victim's and family honour

Besides, there was no time or occasion to manipulate semen stains on victim's clothes

Clothes of victim were sent for Chemical Analysis and DNA by Lady Medical Officer

Report of the Chemical Examiner showed that her clothes were stained with semen

Semen found on victim's clothes and shalwar of accused was of the group of accused

Observation by Lady Medical Officer during medico-legal examination of victim clearly made out that the victim had been subjected to rape as stated by the victim

Lady Medical Officer stated in her statement that victim was wearing red and yellow qameez shalwar and white printed dopatta, which were blood stained

Multiple reddish abrasions present in pre-hymeneal area, hymen ruptured, posterior fresh, bleeding present were observed

After short span of the incident, medical examination of the victim and accused was conducted and DNA report was positive

Medical evidence had corroborated the evidence of the victim

Testimony of victim was cogent and credible not only due to her social background but also due to the fact that her version had been clearly corroborated by the other materials

Appeal was dismissed.

One weak piece of evidence cannot corroborate another.

If Court is satisfied about truthfulness of direct evidence, the requirement of corroborative evidence is not of much significance.

Qatl-i-amd, kidnapping or abducting for ransom, robbery, common intention, act of terrorism, possessing unlicensed weapon

Appreciation of evidence-Ocular and medical evidence-Corroboration

Accused was charged that he and co

accused persons while armed with weapons kidnapped the complainant party for extorting money, snatched their cash, mobile, licensed pistol and injured them

Record showed that accused was named in the FIR with a specific role

Ocular account of the incident had been furnished by complainant and two injured witnesses

Said eye-witnesses were in the car for a considerable period of time at close quarters with the accused where they would have got a good look at the accused and thus, there was no need of an identification parade and they would have been able to correctly identify the accused

One of the eye-witnesses correctly picked out the accused at an identification parade a few days later giving him a specific role

Evidence of the eye-witnesses concerning their kidnapping and the attempted murder of injured witness corroborated each other in all material respects

Eye-witnesses were not related to the complainant and had no reason to falsely implicate the accused

Said witnesses were not chance witnesses, they were not shattered during lengthy cross-examination and as such their evidence was believable and they had correctly identified the accused as one of the persons who hi-jacked the complainants car, kidnapped them, robbed them and attempted to murder the injured witness by shooting him in the abdomen

Eye-witnesses were found to be fully corroborative, reliable, trust worthy and confidence inspiring

Medical Officer was corroborative of the fact that injured witness received a firearm injury in his abdomen

Circumstances established that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt, as such appeal against conviction was dismissed.

Qatl-i-amd, attempt to commit qatl-i-amd, robbery or dacoity with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt, common intention, act of terrorism

Appreciation of evidence

Ocular and medical evidence

Corroboration

Scope

Accused were charged for causing murder of two persons and injuring one during robbery

Ocular account of the incident had been furnished by three witnesses including complainant and injured

Record showed that there had been no lengthy unexplained delay in lodging the FIR and as such there was no time for the police in collusion with the complainant to cook up a false case against the accused

Accused was grabbed by the public on the spot and was even beaten, which was corroborated by his Medico Legal Certificate and as such the question of mistaken identity did not arise

Accused was then immediately handed over to the police

Medical evidence through two Medical Officers and their post mortem reports corroborated and supported the oral evidence as they opined that the deceased were shot by firearm and that was the cause of death

Injured was shot in the thigh by firearm

Blackening indicated that the shooting was done from more than three feet away, which was consistent with the oral evidence

Evidence of witnesses provided a believable corroborated unbroken chain of events from the murder of the deceased whilst attempting to rob injured witnesses of their gold ornaments until the capture of the accused by the public and immediate arrest thereafter by the police

Circumstances established that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt

Fact was that it was a case of robbery which turned into a murder case when injured witness and complainant refused to hand over the gold to the accused and his co-accused, thus, the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, did not apply

Appeal against conviction was dismissed accordingly.

Qatl-i-amd, common intention, rioting, rioting armed with deadly weapons, unlawful assembly, act of terrorism, possession of unlicensed arms

Appreciation of evidence

Medical evidence and ocular account

Corroboration

Sentence, reduction in

Mitigating circumstances

Scope

Prosecution case was that Rangers personnel and officers conducted raid at the office of a banned political party and when the Rangers were leaving and withdrawing from their operation a large number of persons converged there and in the meanwhile some unknown miscreants started firing, as a result of which one person died on the spot on account of firearm injury and one also got injured, FIR against unknown miscreants was get registered

Two eye-witnesses on record had no ill will or enmity towards the appellant and thus had no reason to falsely implicate him in the case

None of the eye-witnesses were chance witnesses as they were both Rangers Officials who had every reason to be present at the time of the raid

Admission of accused and his wife was available on record that he was present at the scene at the time of the murder

Medical evidence supported oral evidence of the eye-witness

Record showed that there was no blackening around the wound of the deceased which indicated that the shot which killed the deceased was fired from over three feet, which was in consonance with the oral evidence given by the eye-witnesses in respect of as to how far the accused was from the deceased when the shot was fired

Prosecution witnesses were all corroborative of each other and there were no major contradictions in their evidence which could have adverse impact on the prosecution case

Admittedly most of the witnesses were Rangers or police witnesses

Said witnesses had no reason to falsely implicate the accused in the case

No enmity, ill will, mala fide or personal interest was even suggested to the eye-witnesses of police or any other witness during their cross examination

Circumstances established that the prosecution evidence provided a believable chain of evidence from the time of the Rangers raid to the shooting of the deceased, his death, the arrest of the accused and recovery of the murder weapon which was corroborated by the medical, chemical, Forensic Science Laboratory evidence and report

Record transpired that the prosecution had neither alleged any motive against the accused nor had it proven any motive against the accused for murdering the deceased

If the prosecution failed to prove the motive for the murder, the courts are justified in imposing the alternate sentence of life imprisonment as opposed to the death penalty

High Court observed that in the present case, the act of accused was not an "act of terrorism" falling within the purview of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997

Evidence on record showed that there was no design or intention to create any fear or insecurity in society by murdering the deceased

In fact incident was simply a murder case falling under S. 302, P.P.C.

High Court upheld the conviction in the impugned judgment against the accused apart from the conviction under any other provision of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 but in respect of the offence of murder under S. 302(b), P.P.C., however, the sentence was reduced from death to life imprisonment by the High Court

Appeal was dismissed with said modification.

Retracted confession and judicial confession if ring true and are voluntary can be made the sole basis for the conviction of the maker thereof

Evidentiary value of the retracted confession does not diminish if the same gets corroborated from other facts and circumstances of the case

Independent corroboration from the other evidence, direct and circumstantial is essential.

One tainted piece of evidence could not corroborate other tainted piece of evidence.