Evidentiary value of last seen theory, conviction on the circumstantial evidence. скачать в хорошем качестве

Evidentiary value of last seen theory, conviction on the circumstantial evidence.

#2022LHC1320. Lahore High Court Allah Ditta v. The State. Crl. Appeal No.298-J/2017 Mr. Justice Ali Zia Bajwa https://sys.lhc.gov.pk/appjudgments/2... Facts: The appellant has assailed his conviction and sentence in a murder case. Issues: i) What is the last seen theory and its evidentiary value? ii) What is evidentiary value of extra judicial confession? iii) What are the essential conditions in order to sustain conviction in case of circumstantial evidence? Analysis i) The last seen theory comes into play where the time-gap between the point of time when the deceased was last seen alive in the company of accused and when the deceased is found dead is so small that possibility of any person other than the accused being the culprit of the crime becomes impossible. Evidence of last seen is considered a weak type of evidence which is not sufficient to sustain punishment in cases pertaining to capital punishment without corroboration from other circumstantial evidence available on the record. ii) Evidence of extra-judicial confession is universally regarded as inherently weak evidence which does not present a brighter picture of prosecution case. As evidence of extra judicial confession is a weak type of evidence, which can easily be crafted to strengthen the weak prosecution case, therefore, courts must consider it with abundant caution before relying upon it. iii) In order to sustain a conviction in a case of circumstantial evidence, following conditions must be fulfilled: (i) The facts and circumstances from which an inference of guilt is pursued to be drawn must be established through cogent and convincing evidence of unimpeachable character. (ii) Those circumstances should be of a conclusive nature having propensity accurately pointing towards the guilt of the accused. (iii) The entire evidence available on the record when taken cumulatively should be in form of a chain, which is compact enough to establish that there is no escape from the conclusion that within all probabilities the crime was authored by the accused and none else. It should also be incapable of explanation on any other hypothesis than that of the guilt of the accused by excluding all the hypothesis of his innocence. Conclusion: i) The evidence of last seen is a weak type of evidence which can easily be crafted FORTNIGHTLY CASE LAW BULLETIN 57 to strengthen the weak prosecution case. ii) Extra-judicial confession is universally regarded as inherently weak evidence. iii) In cases of circumstantial evidence, there must be a chain of evidence so complete as not to leave any reasonable ground for a conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused and it must be such as to show that within all human probability the act must have been done by the accused