The Supreme Court dismissed Himachal Pradesh's appeal against the acquittal of a woman accused of strangling her step-mother and minor step-brother. The last-seen witness had improved on his police statement, the investigating officer never explained why or when he recorded the taxi driver and hotel worker, tower locations were never collected, and a DNA match on a trunk showed only that the accused, a regular visitor, had been there at some point.
The Supreme Court has upheld the acquittal of two men convicted of a double murder, dismissing the State's appeal against the High Court's benefit-of-doubt finding. It held the circumstantial evidence chain was incomplete: no eyewitness, a key witness's delayed disclosure, and recoveries made days after the arrest that appeared stage-managed and artificial.
The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of two men from whom 9.6 kg of opium was recovered, holding that Section 50 of the NDPS Act was breached. A joint written notice, signed by one accused for both, is not a valid communication of the right; each person must be told individually. Offering a third option of search before a superintendent of the raiding party was also improper. Because both the bag and the persons were searched, Section 50 applied (paras 12, 14-15).