GOVIND v. STATE HARYANA
Supreme Court of IndiaC.A. NO. 005641-005641 - 2024Bench: Justice J.K. Maheshwari, Justice Vijay Bishnoi
The Supreme Court acquitted the appellant of murder under Section 302 IPC and Arms Act Section 25, holding that conviction founded solely on recovery of an unlicensed pistol and FSL report, absent credible evidence that the weapon was used in the crime, is untenable; the decisive infirmities were that the sole purported eyewitness and first responder turned hostile, no last-seen or identification evidence survived, the pistol was seized from an unlocked iron box in a shared dwelling without independent witnesses, the chain of custody from malkhana to FSL remained unproved, and the alleged motive (quid pro quo with co-accused who were either discharged or acquitted) was speculative.