MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court set aside the conviction and life sentence awarded to an autorickshaw driver who had been lodged in jail in a murder case. A bench, comprising justices M Sathyanarayanan and B Pugalendhi, passed the order following an appeal filed by one V Edward of Tiruchy, challenging the life imprisonment imposed on him by the Tiruchy Sessions Judge in November 2016 for murdering another autorickshaw driver Palaniswamy in 2014.
Perusing the facts and evidence, the judges observed, “It is a well-settled position of law that conviction can be based on the solitary testimony of the eye witness, if it inspires confidence and also corroborates by other witnesses.” However, in the present case, the conviction had been recorded based on the sole testimony of the deceased man’s cousin but the same has not been corroborated by other witnesses as they had turned hostile. Moreover, there has been an unexplained delay in the dispatch of material documents to the jurisdictional court, the judges pointed out.
Holding that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against Edward beyond doubt, the judges allowed the appeal.
The facts of the case were that, due to a dispute, Edward stabbed Palaniswamy in front of a fancy shop near their autorickshaw stand in Tiruchy and fled the spot. Based on the statements of the deceased man’s cousin, two other persons and the shop owner, the police arrested Edward.