The central legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for the testimony of a single witness to be reliable, credible, and trustworthy for conviction, and the need for corroboration in the presence of doubts.

Mukhtar Ahmad, J.

1. The appellants Ram Sewak and Panni Lal have preferred this criminal appeal against the judgment and order dated 30.04.1983 passed by VIII Additional Sessions Judge, Kanpur in S.T. No. 165 of 1980 under Section 302/34/201 IPC, whereby both the appellants were convicted and each of them was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment under Section 302/34 I.P.C. Appellant Ramsewak was further convicted under section 201 IPC too and sentenced to undergo for 2 years rigorous imprisonment. Appellant Ramsewak has died during the pendency of this appeal and appeal has been abated in his respect vide order dated 04-12-2007, as such this appeal survives only on behalf of appellant Panni Lal.

2. The prosecution story hinges on the facts that on 09.2.1980, the first informant- Raja Ram (PW-1), gave a written information (Ex Ka-1) at the police station, Kakwan, district Kanpur by saying that Sudama was his bhaujai (brother’s wife) in relation, whose husband had expired about 3 years ago and thereafter her agriculture was being looked after by him. Some litigation in respect of the land was there between Sudama and her jeth Ram Sewak accused in which she succeeded and her name was mutated in revenue records. It was further stated that for about last 6 months Sudama used to come in his house for sleeping in the night and in remaining period she used to live in her own house. Usually she used to come for sleeping at about 8p.m. On the day of incident i.e. 09-2-1980 when she didn’t come to his house up to 8 p.m. then he and his brother Nathu Ram went to see her towards her house and saw in the light of torch that Sudama was lying on the door of the room and Ram Sewak was slaughtering her neck by gadasa, Panni lal was catching hold her hairs and head and blood was oozing. Seeing all this applicant and his brother came out of the house and raised the alarm, thereafter Panni Lal and Ram Sewak came out of the house and ran away towards Kakwan Canal. Accused Ram Sewak was having head of the deceased. It was also asserted that Ramsewak was trying to get his name mutated in respect of the land of Sudama but could not succeeded and due to this grudge he committed murder of Sudama. On the basis of written tahrir (Ex. k-1), an first information report (Ex-Ka-5) was registered against the accused persons under section 302 IPC. The investigation was taken over by S.O. Ram Swaroop Singh (PW-5), who recorded the statement of the informant, visited the spot, prepared site plan. He also arrested accused Ram Sewak in the same night, recovered blood stained langot and underwear from his body, also recovered head of the deceased and blood stained Gadasa on the pointing out of accused Ram Sewak and papered fards. From the place of occurrence blood stained and plain earth, blood stained clothes and wearing ornaments of the deceased were also recovered and recovery memo were prepared. Inquest of the dead body (Ex-Ka-8) was also conducted. Thereafter, the dead body along with head was sealed and sent for post mortem examination through Constables Ram Chander Tiwari and Phool Singh (Pw-6). Specimen seal, memo supurdagi Lash, photo Lash, letter to CMO were also prepared and handed over to the aforesaid Constables. Autopsy of the deceased- Sudama was conducted on 11.2.1980 by Dr. C.T Mirpuri (PW-3). He observed that deceased was of about 25 years of age having average built and had died about 2 days before the post-mortem, head was separate from the neck, rigor mortis was passed away from the upper portion of the body however was present in lower part. He found following ante mortem injuries on the dead body of the deceased :

“1- Incised wound 11 cm x 4 cm cavity deep on the left side face extending from frontal region to temple of left ear 3 cm away left eyebrow.

2- Lacerated wound 7 cm x 2-1/2 cm x bone deep on left side head 3-1/2 cm away from left ear extending from occipital region left side.

3- Lacerated wound 1-1/2 cm x 1/2 x bone deep on bac