Source: Supreme Court

Why in News?

The Supreme Court's (SC) recent ruling in the matter of Naresh @ Nehru v. State of Haryana emphasized the necessity for eyewitness testimony to possess an exceptionally high level of credibility and reliability.

What is the Background of the Naresh @ Nehru v. State of Haryana Case?

• The facts of the case pertain to the fact that certain persons had fired a gunshot at a boy. Upon reaching the place of incident, statement of one Mohit Kala was recorded.
• He stated that:
  • He saw Ajay and Suraj running towards the house of Dharmender as they were being chased by three youngsters on a bullet motorcycle.
  • Two more motorcycles having two riders each, with batons in their hands were following the Bullet motorcycle driven by Ravi.
  • Further, the person sitting on the Bullet motorcycle got down and fired at Ajay with a country-made revolver, which hit his head and Ajay fell down.
  • On raising the alarm, the assailants sped away on their motorcycles.
  • Ravi was studying in Ajay’s school and was his junior. He used to bully and threaten all.
  • Ajay had a fight with Ravi and Suraj and had threatened to kill him.
• First Information Report (FIR) under Sections 148, 149, 307 of IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959 was upon the incident.
• Thereafter, upon death of Ajay charge under Section 307 of IPC was converted to that of section 302 of the same Act.
• The Session Court convicted the accused persons which was upheld by the High Court.
• Hence, the present appeal was made to the SC. The court’s scrutiny of evidence revealed:
  • That the conviction of all the accused was primarily based on the testimony of Mohit and the recovery of motorcycles.
  • There were numerous irregularities and deficiencies within the prosecution's argument.
  • Mohit had not named the appellants in the FIR and had failed to identify Naresh @ Nehru as the driver of the Splendor motorcycle.

What were the Court’s Observations?

• Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Aravind Kumar highlighted that the credibility of eyewitness testimony should be closely linked to various corroborating factors, including recoveries, weapon usage, the method of the offence, scientific evidence, and expert opinions.
• Essentially, a credible eyewitness's testimony should align with all other evidence in the case, hence the court acquitted the accused.

What is Eyewitness Testimony?

• Eyewitness testimony refers to an account of an event or incident provided by an individual who directly observed it.

Appreciation of Evidence of Eyewitness

• Appreciation of evidence means analyzing the worth and reliability of the evidence.
• In Sudip Kumar Sen alias Bittu v. State of W.B. (2016) case, SC has held that conviction can be based upon the uncorroborated testimony of the sole eyewitness if it is found reliable.

What is the Sterling Quality?

• In Kuria v. State of Rajasthan (2013), SC held that in criminal jurisprudence sterling worth refers to worthy of credence and what is reliable and truthful.
• In Sandeep alias Deepu v. State of NCT of Delhi (2012) case, SC held that the guilty can be punished only when the testimony is provided by sterling witness whose testimony can be relied upon without corroboration.