Supreme Court of India
Date of Judgment: October 06, 2025
The case of Nazim & Ors. v. The State of Uttarakhand (2025 INSC 1184) involved an appeal against the convictions of three appellants under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The Supreme Court acquitted all the appellants, holding that the prosecution’s chain of circumstantial evidence was incomplete and unreliable.
The case arose from the death of a 10-year-old boy, Muntiyaz Ali, whose body was discovered on June 6, 2007, with a rope around his neck, his hands tied, and a blood-stained axe found nearby. The First Information Report (FIR) was lodged by the boy’s father, who named six individuals with whom he had longstanding enmity, but notably did not name the appellants Nazim and Aftab. Their names appeared only later during the investigation. The prosecution’s case rested entirely on circumstantial evidence, and the Trial Court convicted the three appellants, with the High Court affirming that decision. The conviction relied primarily on the testimonies of three witnesses: PW-2, who claimed to have overheard a conspiracy to kill a family member; PW-3, who claimed to have last seen the deceased with Nazim and Aftab; and PW-4, who said he saw all three appellants together on the evening of the incident.
In reviewing the case, the Supreme Court reiterated that when a conviction is based solely on circumstantial evidence, the prosecution must satisfy the five golden principles laid down in Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v. State of Maharashtra (1984) 4 SCC 116). The circumstances must be fully established, consistent only with the hypothesis of guilt, of a conclusive nature, exclude every possible hypothesis except guilt, and form a complete chain of evidence leaving no reasonable ground for a conclusion consistent with innocence. The Court emphasized that strong suspicion cannot substitute for proof, and any reasonable doubt must operate in favor of the accused.
Upon examining the evidence, the Court found significant deficiencies that destroyed the prosecution’s chain of circumstances. The omission of the appellants’ names in the FIR created serious doubt and suggested possible false implication at a later stage. PW-2’s testimony regarding the alleged conspiracy was found inherently improbable and likely fabricated, as he never reported the matter even though he wrote the FIR himself. The “last-seen” testimonies of PW-3 and PW-4 were also unreliable; no Test Identification Parade had been conducted, and the witnesses were strangers to the accused. Moreover, the time gap between the alleged sightings and the discovery of the body was too wide to exclude other possible interventions. The forensic evidence, including the rope and axe, did not link the appellants to the crime; the FSL report was neutral. The alleged motive of revenge was speculative and unsupported by evidence.
The Supreme Court concluded that the prosecution failed to establish an unbroken and conclusive chain of circumstances pointing only to the guilt of the appellants. The evidence failed to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis, including innocence. Accordingly, the Court allowed the appeal, acquitted all three appellants—Nazim, Aftab, and Arman Ali—set aside the judgments of the Trial Court and the High Court, and discharged their bail bonds and sureties. The decision reaffirmed the stringent evidentiary standards required for conviction in cases based solely on circumstantial evidence.
The medical evidence proves the fact of homicidal death but does not implicate the Appellants. The forensic report is neutral, the recovery is procedurally suspect, and the High Court failed to grapple with these deficiencies. When the only scientific evidence available neither supports the prosecution’s narrative nor connects the accused to the crime, it is impermissible to uphold a conviction solely on doubtful eyewitness testimony.
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 715 OF 2018
Read more
Supreme Court Acquits Death Row Convicts in Child Rape-Murder
