On Thursday, the bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha stated that conviction can’t be be made just on the basis of alleged extrajudicial confession made by the appellant to witnesses.

The appellant was convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC and the Trial Court passed orders of conviction and sentence.

Being aggrieved, the appellant filed an appeal before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh which was dismissed.

The appellent then moved to Supreme Court and filed an appeal challenging the judgment and order passed by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana dismissing the appeal filed by the accused/appellant, thereby convicting the appellant for the offences punishable under Section 302 and 201 of the IPC.

Counsel for the appellant submitted that, in the absence of the prosecution proving that the dead body was of the deceased, the conviction was not sustainable.

Supreme Court stated that the prosecution has utterly failed to establish the chain of events which could prove the guilt of the accused.

The bench stated that the “suspicion, however strong it may be, cannot take the place of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. An accused cannot be convicted on the ground of suspicion, no matter how strong it is. An accused is presumed to be innocent unless proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

In view of the above, The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the impugned order passed by the Punjab and Haryana HC.

Case Title: Ram Niwas v. State Of Haryana