Supreme Court Acquits Accused in Poisoning Case - Prosecution Failed to Conclusively Prove Cause of Death.

In a landmark judgment dated November 7^th, 2023, the Supreme Court of India overturned the conviction of an individual sentenced to life imprisonment for the alleged poisoning of Bisahu Singh. The bench, comprising Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Dipankar Datta, declared, “the prosecution had failed to conclusively prove that the substances found in the Viscera of the deceased were poisonous and the final cause of death,” leading to the acquittal of the appellant accused under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The case, which stemmed from the death of Bisahu Singh in 2003, saw the appellant, Hariprasad @ Kishan Sahu, convicted of murder by the Trial Court and the High Court of Chhattisgarh. However, the Supreme Court scrutinized the one-year delay in the registration of the First Information Report (FIR) and the reliability of the dying declarations made by the deceased to his family members.

Justice Trivedi, authoring the judgment, noted, “mere delay in registering the FIR could not be held to be a ground adverse to the case of prosecution.” The apex court further underscored the necessity for concrete evidence in cases of alleged poisoning, referencing the criteria established in the precedent-setting case Sharad Birdhichand Sarda vs. State of Maharashtra.

The judgment also highlighted that the FIR is a corroborative piece of evidence, not a substantive one, and that the delay, in this case, was due to the time taken to receive the Forensic Science Laboratory report.

This decision has reaffirmed the legal principle that convictions should be based on firm evidence beyond reasonable doubt, which was not met in this instance. The appellant, Hariprasad @ Kishan Sahu, has been acquitted of all charges, and his bail bonds have been ordered to be canceled forthwith. This ruling has significant implications for the standards of evidence required in criminal proceedings, particularly in cases involving allegations of poisoning.

Date of Decision: 07 November 2023

HARIPRASAD @ KISHAN SAHU VS  STATE OF CHHATTISGARH