Overview
- A division bench of Justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Sanjiv Kumar set aside the 1984 conviction and ordered the appellant’s bail bond discharged.
- The court held the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, citing unreliable eyewitness accounts, omissions in the FIR, and a forensic–ocular mismatch including an upward wound trajectory at odds with testimony.
- The appeal remained pending for more than 40 years, during which the appellant, now about 100, spent nearly the entire period on bail.
- The 1982 Hamirpur case involved a land dispute; the prosecution said Maiku fired the fatal shot after exhortation by co-accused, but Maiku was never arrested and co-appellant Satti Din died during the appeal.
- The judgment notes that prolonged pendency can turn process into punishment and has drawn renewed attention to systemic delays in criminal appeals.