Not Proving Motive Raises Suspicion In Prosecution Case

The Supreme Court in Pankaj vs. State of Rajasthan, has observed that though motive is not sine qua non for the conviction of the accused, the effect of not proving motive raises a suspicion in the mind. The main contention of the appellant before the apex court in this case was that there was no motive behind the killing and it is beyond imagination that a person without any provocation, motive or instigation will straight away open fire. The accused had challenged his conviction under Section 302 IPC by the High Court of Rajasthan. Setting aside the conviction and sentence, the Bench comprising Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice R.K. Agrawal held: “Moreover, the prosecution is not able to prove the motive clearly. Though motive is not sine qua non for the conviction of the appellant-accused, the effect of not proving motive raises a suspicion in the mind. In the present case, it appears that the theory behind motive has been given after much thought process.” Giving the benefit of doubt to the accused, the court said: “When the evidence produced by the prosecution has neither quality nor credibility, it would be unsafe to rest conviction upon such evidence.”

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