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

Описание: #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