"Not Guilty": Supreme Court Acquits Man On Death Row After 11 Years In Jail

The Supreme Court in an important judgment today set aside the death sentence of Baljinder Kumar from Kapurthala, who has been in jail for over 11 years in murder cases of his wife, two toddlers and sister-in-law.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta concluded there were several deficiencies and contradictions in accounts of witnesses and evidence.

"When at stake are human lives and the cost is blood, the matter needs to be dealt with utmost sincerity," the judgment said.

The Supreme Court said that given the facts and circumstances of the case, it cannot hold the accused guilty of the charged offence as his guilt has not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Supreme Court set aside and quashed the trial court's conviction and death sentence order as well as the high court order which affirmed it.

Baljinder Kumar was accused of killing his family in 2013 over a dispute of Rs 35,000.

Calling it a "rarest of the rare" case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the death penalty handed down to the man for killing his wife, two children and sister-in-law in Punjab's Phagwara area in 2013.

However, the Supreme Court concluded there were several deficiencies in investigations and witness accounts which include contradictions and embellishments in key eyewitness testimonies, failure to conclusively link material objects to the crime, and investigative lapses leading to gaps in the evidentiary chain. All of these factors highlight the failure of the prosecution in meeting the legal threshold for a conviction, the Supreme Court said.

The Supreme Court said the trial court as well as the high court conveniently kept aside such contradictions in the testimonies of witnesses by holding that minor contradictions do not go to the root of a prosecution case.

"We are unable to succumb to the view of categorizing the above discussed contradictions as minor," the Supreme Court said.

Days before the murders, the convict had visited his mother-in-law Manjit Kaur and threatened to kill his wife and children who had left him over a dispute.

An amount of Rs 35,000 was to be paid to Baljinder Kumar and his sister Rekha Rani by her former husband as part of their divorce settlement. Since Manjit Kaur arranged his sister's marriage, which did not work out, and also stood as a guarantor for the return of the money, it was said by the prosecution that Baljinder Kumar held a grudge against her as she failed to ensure the return of the money.

The motive attributed by the prosecution to Baljinder Kumar was that his sister, Rekha Rani, was married to Haria. However, due to matrimonial dispute between the parties, the marriage was dissolved by divorce in presence of the panchayat, where Haria returned all the dowry items and also undertook to pay Rs 35,000 as maintenance to Rekha Rani.

Manjit Kaur, the mother-in-law of Baljinder Kumar, stood as guarantor for Haria for returning the amount, and when such amount was not paid, it led to constant fights between Baljinder Kumar and his wife Seema Rani.

The fight escalated to such an extent where Baljinder Kumar threatened to kill his wife and children if the money was not paid, and it also led to Seema Rani along with her children coming to her maternal home after she was thrashed by him.