Independent witness corroboration in search and recovery cases is essential where police evidence is inconsistent and unreliable.

Conviction for alleged unlawful arms possession was held unsafe where the search and recovery evidence rested on unreliable panch witnesses and lacked independent corroboration. The Court found serious inconsistencies in the presence, identity and conduct of the panch witnesses, including false address details and close association with police, which undermined the claim of a valid search by respectable independent inhabitants. In these circumstances, police testimony alone was insufficient to sustain the prosecution, especially given the stringent consequences of the charge. The appellants were given the benefit of doubt and the conviction and sentence were set aside.

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Issues: Whether the conviction based on the alleged search and recovery of arms could be sustained in the absence of reliable independent panch witnesses and corroborative evidence.

Analysis: The prosecution version of the search was undermined by serious inconsistencies in the presence and conduct of the panch witnesses, both of whom were found not to be truly independent or reliable. Their explanations for being at the spot were mutually inconsistent, and one of them had given a false address and showed close association with the other as well as with the police. The statutory requirement of associating independent and respectable inhabitants for search was not satisfactorily complied with. In these circumstances, the testimony of the police witnesses alone, without independent corroboration, was considered unsafe to accept, particularly in a case where stringent penal consequences followed from the alleged possession of arms in a notified area.

Conclusion: The conviction and sentence were not sustainable and the appellants were entitled to the benefit of doubt.

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