The Supreme Court has allowed the appeal filed by Talari Naresh and acquitted him of charges under Sections 302 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3(2)(v) and 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and N.V. Anjaria set aside the judgment of the Telangana High Court dated 04.02.2025 which had confirmed the conviction and life sentence recorded by the Special Sessions Judge for SC/ST Act-cum-VII Additional District & Sessions Judge, Ranga Reddy District.
The prosecution alleged that on 12.05.2013, the appellant assaulted the deceased Shiva Shankar (a member of Scheduled Caste Mala community) with a stone near the appellant’s house in village Ogipur following an earlier incident of elopement of the appellant’s sister with the deceased. It was claimed that a Panchayat had earlier directed the deceased to leave the village. The deceased’s mother (PW1) and one Narendar (PW3) were projected as eye-witnesses. The deceased succumbed to head injuries while being shifted to hospital.
The Supreme Court, in the judgment authored by Justice N.V. Anjaria, found that the prosecution case crumbled on foundational aspects. PW3 turned hostile and contradicted PW1 on the crucial point of informing the mother and rushing to the scene. PW4 and PW5, also declared hostile, denied the holding of any Panchayat regarding the elopement. The Court noted that the alleged place of occurrence was a busy main road with continuous vehicular traffic and quarry movement, yet the prosecution failed to examine any independent witness from the vicinity.
The medical evidence was also found unreliable. The Postmortem Report (Ex.P8) contained irreconcilable discrepancies regarding the date and time of examination and cause of death, which the doctor (PW7) could not satisfactorily explain. The Court reiterated that a Postmortem Report is not substantive evidence and requires credible corroboration, which was lacking here.
Importantly, the Bench held that the evidence of hostile witnesses is admissible and can be used not only to convict but also to discredit the prosecution case and support acquittal when it inspires confidence and is read with other evidence on record. The Court observed that when the testimony of hostile witnesses demolishes the core of the prosecution story, it can legitimately form the basis for acquittal.
In view of the weak, contradictory and crumbling evidence, the Supreme Court held that the prosecution miserably failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. Both the Trial Court and the High Court committed a concurrent error in convicting the appellant. The appellant was acquitted and directed to be set at liberty forthwith unless required in any other case.
Case Details:
Title: Talari Naresh v. State of Telangana
Case No.: Criminal Appeal No. __ of 2026 (Arising out of SLP(Crl.) No.13614 of 2025)
Coram: Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and N.V. Anjaria
Date of Judgment: 13.05.2026
Click HERE for full Judgment.
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