The Madras high court has held that any delay in submitting an FIR to the court will give scope and chance for interpolation, story telling and any unreasonable and unexplained delay on this account will affect the credibility and the quality of the evidence of prosecution witnesses in a case.
The court acquitted four persons who were awarded sentences ranging from three years to life imprisonment in a murder case.
The FIR in this case reached the trial court after a delay of six hours though the court was hardly 250 yards from the police station.
A division bench of Justices K.N. Basha and P. Devadass allowed the appeals from the accused and set aside the life sentences awarded to Ramachandran and Rajasekaran, 10 years RI to Pandi and three years RI to Sivanasami by the trial court in Tirupur.
According to the prosecution, one Pandiyarajan married Chitra, the sister of Ramachandran, Rajasekaran and Pandi and had two children. On May 5, 2008, the accused fatally stabbed the deceased following a family feud.
The bench said it was clear from the evidence of the prosecution witnesses who were also the eyewitnesses in the case that the FIR was fabricated. It shakes the prosecution version and the credibility of prosecution witnesses.
In a criminal case, an FIR is an important document because it sets criminal law in motion. It contains the first, earliest version and information concerning the commission of a cognizable offence. That was why it has been repeatedly held that it must reach the law enforcing authority as well as the court within the quickest possible time.
Every delay must be accounted for, the court explained. The bench said in this case there was no explanation for the delay. “The said delay in the FIR reaching the court assumes signal importance as we have held that the FIR in this case is not free from doubt,” the bench said.