Conviction cannot be on moral grounds: Karnataka High Court sets aside life term in murder case

The Karnataka High Court recently set aside a conviction for murder that was allegedly committed by a man who found out that the deceased was having illicit relations with his daughter-in-law. [Basavaraj Kamaji & Ors v State]..On finding that there was no evidence to prove the prosecution case that led to the trial court conviction, a Bench of Justices Suraj Govindaraj and G Basavaraja held,"In the present implicate the accused in the crime though there are conjunctures drawn by the Investigating Officer as also by the trial Court to implicate the accused. The conviction of an accused cannot be on the basis of moral grounds but would have to be on sound legal principles established by the evidence on record.".The Court was hearing an appeal by the convicts against a 2018 verdict that had convicted them for murder and other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as a result of which they were sentenced to life imprisonment..As per the prosecution case, the deceased man, who belonged to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) community, was in an illicit relationship with the daughter-in-law of the main accused. It was further alleged that to take revenge on the deceased man, the accused along with others entered into a conspiracy to kill him. The main accused promised to pay all other co-accused ₹5 lakh for the deed. Later, they abducted the deceased in a car, assaulted him brutally with knives and other weapons, and then dumped his body near the highway.After the police conducted an investigation, the accused persons were arrested for murder and other offences under the IPC and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) (SC/ST) Act, 1989.The trial court convicted the accused for murder and other offences under IPC, but acquitted them of charges under the SC/ST Act..After hearing arguments of the counsel, the High Court noted that of the 28 witnesses examined in the case, all including the complainant had turned hostile.The recovery of the car, weapons and money on the basis of which the accused were implicated has also not been proved, the Court said,Further, it held,"The allegation being that there was illicit relationship between the deceased and daughter-in-law of accused No.1, there is no other person of the village and or family, who has been examined to establish this fact."There are only vague allegations and statements made in the charge sheet which has not been established by cogent evidence, the Court said..In this light, the Court set aside the trial court's conviction and sentence, noting that no cognate evidence was relied on while passing the verdict..[Read Order]