NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ordered forthwith release of four men convicted in a 1989 murder case of Assam's Dibrugarh after finding serious doubt in the prosecution story and noting "a possible set up" by the police to rope in the accused.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath, and Sanjay Karol said that the prosecution's job is not to accept the complainants version as gospel truth and the investigation must be done in a fair and transparent manner to ascertain the truth.
The court also noted that the prosecution in the case has not come forward with fair and honest version and there was a sketchy FIR, role of police officers at the crime spot in witnesses statements was suspect with loopholes in the investigation.
It said death of Pradip Phukan here was homicidal but it was not convinced that the prosecution has established the case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused appellants.
"It is still a mystery as to how the investigating officer in his statement said that he had filed a charge-sheet against eight accused as five were absconding and there is no further statement regarding three more accused being arrested and put to trial, how the trial court proceeded to convict 11 accused and only two were set to be absconding, the bench said.
The bench further said that the evidence in the case created a very serious doubt on the entire prosecution story and it is quite possible that the police personnel were there to arrest the deceased and his brother and in that process some resistance may have resulted into the incident.
Even the scribe of the FIR has not been produced nor the signatures have been proved. It is quite possible that it was a complete set-up by the police. They (police) having committed the murder in the process of arresting the deceased, and thereafter, knowing the enmity between the two parties, set-up a false case against the accused, the bench said.
The bench said no explanation has been put to explain the presence of the police personnel of Chabua police station throughout the incident.
The job of the prosecution is not to accept the complainants version as gospel truth and proceed in that direction but the investigation must be made in a fair and transparent manner and must ascertain the truth, the bench said.
The bench further said that the entire version of the prosecution witnesses that the police personnel accompanied the accused and were standing outside the house of the deceased created a serious doubt on the very genesis of the prosecution story.
The bench said if the investigation is unfair and tainted then it is the duty of the trial court to get the clarifications on all the aspects which may surface or may be reflected by the evidence so that it may arrive at a just and fair conclusion.
The top court judgment came on an appeal filed by Pulen Phukan and others challenging a 2015 Gauhati High Court judgment affirming the conviction and life sentence of the accused by the trial court. The trial court and high court convicted 11 accused under various sections. However, only four of the convicts filed the appeal in the top court.
