Accusative evidence is accurate if accused could be hanged: Supreme Court

New Delhi Ta3 October 2019 Thursday

The apex court said that if the evidence was coincidental but accurate, the accused could be sentenced to death.

In 2005, a man named Sudam killed his wife and four children in Nanded, Maharashtra. Children ranged in age from two years to ten years. Each of the bodies was found at a different location. After the killings, Sudam fled. He was arrested a month later by police.

Sudam had previously married a woman named Muktabai, who had two children, and after divorcing Mukta, he gave her fifteen thousand rupees.

She then lived as a spouse without marrying Anita, saying that she was not married. There was a rift between Anita and Sudam after reports that Sudam was married and had two children from a previous marriage, and that Sudam had killed her and all four children.

From the lower court to the High Court and from there to the Supreme Court, all the courts sentenced him to death. Sudam had pleaded for renegotiation and apology. In response, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

At that time, the Supreme Court ruled that executions could only be carried out if the evidence was factual but accurate. The crime must be taken into account, even if the crime is serious, the socio-economic and psychological conditions of the accused, the age and the mood of the accused.