Conviction cannot be predicated only on the circumstances of “last seen”: Murder suspect cleared by Supreme Court

According to the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Jabir and Others v. State of Uttarakhand, which resulted in the acquittal of three people charged with the murder of a 7-year-old kid, an accused cannot be found guilty purely on the basis of the “last seen” situation.
The “last seen” doctrine has very limited application, according to a division bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and PS. Narasimha, if the interval between the time the deceased was last seen with the accused and the time of murder is short.
By coming to this conclusion, the Court exonerated the appellants who had been found guilty of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and given a life sentence.

This news is written by Ms. Amrita Singh, Research Assistant, All India Legal Forum.