Victim's Close Relative Not Likely To Foist An Innocent, Can't Be Disregarded Merely By Levelling Them As 'Interested Witnesses': MP High Court

Madhya Pradesh High Court has recently observed that a close relative would be likely to present the actual story of the incident instead of hiding the actual culprit and foisting the crime on an innocent person. The single judge bench of Justice Prem Narayan Singh was explaining why the testimonies of close relatives shouldn't be disregarded automatically by compartmentalising them as 'interested witnesses'. Relying on the full bench decisions in Bhagwan Singh v. State of Haryana and Radha Mohan Singh alias Lal Saheb and Others v. State of U.P., the court reminded that the testimonies of hostile witnesses can turn out to be important if they support the prosecution version to some extent. Moreover, there is also ample documentary evidence and reliable testimonies of witnesses to cull out the guilt of the accused, the court inferred while upholding the conviction by the trial court. “…The appellant is facing the trial since 2022 as well as looking to the prayer of counsel for the appellant coupled with the fact that the appellant is in jail and completed approximately two years of his jail sentence… the sentence of five year may be reduced to three years by enhancing the fine to Rs.10000”, the court held while partly allowing the criminal appeal.