JUDGEMENT
V. R. Krishna Iyer, J. -
(1.)Mr. Frank Anthony has argued elaborately, punctuated with strident emphasis, several points in support of the innocence of the petitioners who have been convicted under S. 302 read with S. 34 and S. 307 I.P.C. The High Court has affirmed the conviction entered by the trial court and sentences of life imprisonment have been awarded by both the courts for both the accused. Certainly, some persuasive factors, which may militate against the culpability of the accused and the prosecution version of the precise nature of the occurrence, were brought to our notice by counsel who also strongly urged that there were embellishments and improbabilities invalidating the conviction. We have had the advantage of perusing the extensively spread-out judgment of the High Court, in the light of the critical arguments addressed, but remain unconvinced that there is any serious error which warrants grant of leave.
(2.)Credibility of testimony, oral circumstantial, depends considerably on a judicial evaluation of the totality, not isolated scrutiny. While it is necessary that proof beyond reasonable doubt should be adduced in all criminal cases, it is not necessary that it should be perfect. If a case is proved too perfectly, it is urged that it is artificial; if a case has some flaws, inevitable because human beings are prone to err, it is argued that it is too imperfect. One wonders whether in the meticulous hypersensitivity to eliminate a rare innocent from being punished, many guilty men must be callously allowed to escape. Proof beyond reasonable doubt is a guideline, not a fetish and guilty man cannot get away with it because truth suffers some infirmity when projected through human processes. Judicial quest for perfect proof often accounts for police presentation of fool-proof concoction. Why fake up Because the court asks for manufacture to make truth look true No, we must be realistic.
(3.)We are satisfied that the broad features of the case, the general trend of the testimony and the convincing array of facts which are indisputable, converge to the only conclusion that may be reasonably drawn, namely, that the accused are guilty. Theoretical possibilities may not shake up, fancied weaknesses may not defeat, when verdicts are rested on sure foundations. Stray chances of innocence haunting the corridors of the court cannot topple concurrent findings of guilt.