Statement of accused can’t be used against co-accused without evidence, says HC

› Petitioners who are relatives…should not be made to face ignominy of a trial especially when there is no evidence to hold them guilty. HC BENCH

CHANDIGARH: A statement given to police by an accused in a criminal case against another person without any corroborative evidence is not admissible in court of law, the Punjab and Haryana high court has said.

The high court bench of justice Jaishree Thakur quashed the FIR and challan presented by Ferozepur police in an alleged contract killing conspiracy case, registered in 2014 against four members of a family.

“The petitioners who are the relatives…should not be made to face the ignominy of a trial especially when there is no evidence direct or otherwise available to hold them prima facie guilty,” the high court bench said, quashing the challan and FIR against them.

The Ferozepur police had registered an FIR on the complaint of one VP Singh, whose daughter got married to one Tarandeep Singh in 2013.

The marriage did not last long and Singh’s daughter lodged a case of dowry and harassment against the family of Tarandeep.

While the investigation into first case was underway, this second FIR was lodged in 2014 by VP Singh, alleging that Tarandeep Singh and his four family members conspired to get him killed through a contract killer.

The challan in the second FIR was filed in February 2017 against the family members. Following this, Tarandeep’s family had approached the high court.

VP Singh had argued that petitioners have been summoned to face trial and all opportunities are available to them to argue against charges being framed and this is not the appropriate stage to challenge the challan.

“A person cannot be held guilty primarily on confession of a co-accused without there being any substantive corroborative evidence,” the court observed, adding that in the case in hand, there was no mention of petitioners in the FIR.

“On the basis of disclosure statement, they were named as accused and challan was filed. No fact has been discovered by the police that the present petitioners were involved in the criminal conspiracy,” the court said.