MUMBAI: Over 24 years after two men were convicted and jailed for life in the 1987 murder of a woman in Thane district, the Bombay high court has acquitted them holding that the eyewitness evidence was not a sterling testimony.
The two judges on Tuesday quashed the 1998 order of the Thane sessions court against Ladkya Bhurbhura (64) and Manji Tumbda (47).
On October 8, 1987, Shankar Wagh reported to police that the night before, he along with his first wife, Ladkyai, and second wife, Girija, retired to sleep. Around midnight, three people entered the door-less hut, which had only a kerosene lamp burning.
Shankar identified the two accused and said Bhurbhura was armed with a spear. The men questioned Girija and threatened to kill her and Shankar. Shankar ran to the adjacent hamlet to get help. Upon return, Girija was found dead with injuries to her chest. Ladkyai was present at the scene. But Ladkyai claimed she, too, had fled with Shankar.
The judges said the evidence of Shankar and Ladkyai does not inspire confidence. “The evidence of the eyewitness does not appear to be a sterling testimony upon which conviction can be maintained,” they said.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bombay-hc-acquits-2-of-murder-24-yrs-after-conviction/articleshow/89464643.cms
