State of Madhya Pradesh v. Gangabishan @ Vishnu & Ors. — Medical evidence, uncorroborated eyewitness and dying declaration

Part of the Forensic Docket on Legal Desire Forensics — a case where forensic or identification evidence broke down on appeal.

The facts

Nine accused were prosecuted under Sections 302/149, 325/149, 147, 148 and 440, and 304 Part I, of the Penal Code.

There was an injured eyewitness to the incident, and a dying declaration had been recorded.

The trial court convicted the accused, but the High Court acquitted all of them, altering the conviction of accused No.

1 alone to one under Section 304 Part I.

The State appealed against the acquittal.

The Supreme Court held that the statement of the eyewitness, as well as the deceased’s dying declaration, was not corroborated by medical evidence, and that on the facts of the case liability could not be fastened on the remaining accused.

Why this belongs in the Forensic Docket: When neither the eyewitness account nor the dying declaration lines up with what the post-mortem actually shows, courts will not stretch to convict — a reminder that medical corroboration, not just the number or apparent sincerity of witnesses, is what carries a homicide case.

Case details

Read the full judgment (PDF), sourced from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open dataset (AWS Open Data Registry, CC-BY-4.0).

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