AIR 2003 SUPREME COURT 854 ::2003 AIR SCW 308 ::2003 AIR - Jhar. H. C. R. 267 ::(2003) 1 MahLR 431 ::(2003) 2 IndLD 605 ::(2003) 3 CurCriR 167 ::(2003) 1 CurCriR 61 ::(2003) 1 AllCriR 444 ::(2003) 1 CurCriR 113 ::2003 SCC(Cri) 544 ::2003 (2) SCC 401 ::2003 (1) RecCriR 566 ::(2003) 1 Scale 14 ::2003 (1) AllCriLR 965 ::2003 (1) ACE 34 ::2003 (1) CalLJ 158 ::2003 (1) BLJR 440 ::(2003) 1 ChandCriC 97 ::2003 (2) EastCriC 75 ::(2003) 2 JLJR 470 ::2003 (2) JLJR 23 ::(2003) 1 KHCACJ 189 (SC) ::2003 (1) KHCACJ 189 ::(2003) 1 KCCR 751 ::2003 (2) PatLJR 35 ::(2003) 1 SCR 1 (SC) ::2003 (1) SCR 1 ::2003 (1) Crimes 310 ::2003 (1) UC 699 ::2003 (1) SLT 219 ::2003 (1) Supreme 146 ::(2003) 3 AllIndCas 300 (SC) ::2003 (3) AllIndCas 300 ::2003 All MR(CRI) 590 ::2003 (46) AllCriC 296 ::(2003) SC Cr R 713 ::(2004) 1 CurLJ(CCR) 104 ::2003 (4) SRJ 224 ::(2003) 1 JT 1 (SC)

Supreme Court Of India

(From : Patna)*

Hon'ble Judge(s): R. C. Lahoti, Brijesh Kumar , JJ

Penal Code (45 of 1860) , S.300— Murder - Sole eye-witness - Conviction on basis of - Land dispute - Sole testimony of eye-witness not wholly reliable or wholly unreliable - Eye-witness interested being brother of deceased - Not fully corroborated by medical evidence - Investigation defective - Non-examination of witness of locality - No specific finding on factum of possession over land in dispute could be arrived at - Held, no reliance could be placed on sole testimony of witness for purpose of recording conviction of accused. Cri. A. No. 45 of 1991 (R), D/- 19-8-1996 (Patna), Reversed. Evidence Act (1 of 1872) , S.134— The Law of Evidence does not require any particular number of witnesses to be examined in proof of a given fact. However, faced with the testimony of a single witness, the Court may classify the oral testimony into three categories, namely (i) wholly reliable, (ii) wholly unreliable, and (iii) neither wholly reliable nor wholly unreliable. In the first two categories there may be no difficulty in accepting or discarding the testimony of the single witness. The difficulty arises in the third category of cases. The Court as to be circumspect and has to look for corroboration in material particulars by reliable testimony, direct or circumstantial, before acting upon testimony of a single witness.(Para 10) ....