Child’s eye-witness testimony enough: Madras HC

MADURAI: Observing that the sole testimony of a child eye-witness is sufficient to prove commission of offence if no infirmity is found in it, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently upheld the life sentence awarded to two persons for murdering a man in Kanniyakumari 11 years ago.

Justices V Bharathidasan and R Pongiappan upheld the punishment imposed on Jack Thomas and his friend Rasappan, for killing Sukumaran. According to the prosecution, when Sukumaran was working aboard, his wife and Thomas got into an extramarital relationship.

“Hearing about the same, Sukumaran, who returned home, warned the duo. On January 8, 2010, when Sukumaran’s brother visited his house, there was no one inside and blood stains were found on the floor. Based on the confession given by Thomas a few days later, Sukumaran’s body was recovered and a case was registered,” the prosecution added.

A Sessions Court in Kanniyakumari convicted Thomas and his friend Rasappan for the murder in 2018. While hearing a joint appeal by the duo against their conviction recently, the Madurai Bench of Madras HC quoted a Supreme Court judgment which said, “If the child witness is shown to have stood the test of cross-examination and there is no infirmity in his or her evidence, the prosecution can rightly claim a conviction based upon his or her testimony alone.”

Since there was no infirmity found in the statement given by Sukumaran’s son, who was an eye-witness in the case, even during cross-examination, the judges opined that it is sufficient to support the prosecution’s case. The child narrated the incident and also identified the murder weapons, they noted. Though the counsel appearing for the convicts alleged that the statement was a tutored one, the judges dismissed the appeal.