BHOOP RAM Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Bhoop Ram has been convicted and sentenced as below vide the impugned judgment dtd. 11/12/1989 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Hanumangarh in Sessions Case No.63/1986.

(2.) We have given thoughtful consideration to the submissions advanced by the learned counsel for the parties, have gone through the impugned judgment and have minutely re- appreciated the evidence available on record.

(3.) Indisputably, there is no eye-witness of the incident of murder and the entire case of the prosecution is based upon circumstantial evidence. In a catena of decisions, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has laid down the law that in a case solely based upon circumstantial evidence, every circumstance, individually or in isolation, must be proved beyond every shadow of reasonable doubt and if circumstances are taken cumulatively, the only possible inference should be the guilt of the accused to the exclusion of everything else. The circumstantial evidence should be like a spider's web leaving no exit for the accused to slip away. In the celebrated judgment passed in Criminal Appeal No.195/1960 titled as K.M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra reported in AIR 1962 SC 605 Justice K.Subbarao while observing the misdirections instituted by the Sessions Judge in that case, restated his words which were as follows:-