Supreme Court relies on solitary eyewitness testimony to affirm murder conviction; says it is quality of witness that matters, not quantity

The Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed the conviction and life sentence of the four murder accused based on the testimony of the solitary eye witness in the case [Ajai Alias Ajju and Others v. State of Uttar Pradesh]..A division bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath observed that it is not the quantity of witnesses to a criminal trial that matter but the quality of witnesses.The Court, therefore, rejected the contention by the accused regarding the failure of the prosecution to examine two witnesses in the case. The Court observed that such non-examination did not have any material bearing on the case. "It is the discretion of the prosecution to lead as much evidence as is necessary for proving the charge. It is not the quantity of the witnesses but the quality of witnesses which matters," the Court added. .The case involved the murder of the family members of one, Pinky Anand, in 2007. The accused were close relatives and neighbours, who were alleged to share enmity against Anand's father. The accused were alleged to have murdered the family to gain property and settle scores. However, Anand, who witnessed the incident, and her sister Rashmi survived the fatal incident, albeit with injuries.A trial court convicted all four men accused in the case for murder and being part of an unlawful assembly, as well as other allied offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Arms Act,1959. They were sentenced to death. On appeal, the Allahabad High Court upheld the conviction but commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment for all four accused. Aggrieved by the High Court order, the four accused preferred an appeal before the Supreme Court. The State also preferred an appeal before the top court challenging the reduction of sentence by the High Court from death sentence to life imprisonment..Before the Supreme Court, the accused argued that the entire case was based on the evidence of a solitary witness (Pinky Anand) whose testimony was not reliable, since she was related to the deceased and also bore enmity against the accused. Moreover, there existed no other evidence to corroborate her testimony, it was contended. It was also highlighted by the accused that the sisters did not initially disclose the names of the accused. The Court, however, pointed out that this was because the accused were present with the sisters at the time. Hence, they "wisely did not speak out anything in their presence", the bench remarked. The Court further noted that the police was informed of the actual events as soon as the statement of the sisters were later taken in the hospital. The Court concluded that Pinky Anand was "was a fully reliable witness and has stated the things in natural course".It, therefore, proceeded to affirm the murder conviction of the four accused. .The State's appeal to enhance the sentence awarded to the accused was also dismissed by Supreme Court, after noting that "the High Court has given sound and cogent reasons for commuting death sentence into life sentence.".Hence, having found no infirmity in the High Court's decision, the Supreme Court dismissed both appeals before it. .[Read Judgment]