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RAJIV ROY, KHATIM REZA
Mantun Sahni @ Tuntun Sahni – Appellant
Versus
State of Bihar – Respondent
Rajiv Roy, J.—Ms. Maria Nazir is assisting this Court as Amicus Curiae. In the present appeal, on 20.09.2025, before another coordinate bench, no one appeared for the appellant, as such, the bench appointed Mr. Rudrank Shivam Singh as Amicus Curiae. However, today on call, he has chosen to absent himself and in that circumstances, Ms. Nazir has been requested to assist the Court in the present appeal.
2. The report of the S.P., Begusarai has been received, according to which, the present appellant is alive.
(A). PRAYER:
3. The present memo of appeal has been preferred against the judgment and order of sentence dated 07.02.2002 and 08.02.2002 respectively passed in the Sessions Trial no. 06/2001/25 of 2001 by the learned 3rd Additional Sessions Judge, Begusarai by which the Court found the appellant to be guilty for the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and accordingly, he was convicted and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 5000/- and in default of payment of fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months.
(B) FACTS:
4. The matter relates to Begusarai Sadar Mufassil Case no. 142 of 2000 lodged on 30.05.2000 under Se
Burden of proof under section 106 Indian Evidence Act, 1872, falls upon accused to prove his innocence.
Point of Law : Offence of Murder – Conviction set aside – Circumstantial Evidence – Chain of circumstances does not show link to each other.
The absence of corroborative evidence from reliable witnesses and the failure of the prosecution to establish a motive led to the overturning of the conviction based on circumstantial evidence.
The prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt; mere circumstantial evidence and delayed FIR weaken the case, necessitating independent corroboration.
The prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases, especially when relying on circumstantial evidence, which requires stringent adherence to established evidentiary standards....
In circumstantial murder cases, last seen theory alone cannot sustain conviction without complete evidentiary chain excluding innocence, especially with wide time gap allowing third-party interventio....
The court upheld the conviction for murder based on circumstantial evidence, emphasizing the last seen theory and the accused's failure to explain the circumstances of the death.
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