RANG BAHADUR SINGH vs STATE OF U.P. — Crl.A. No. 397/1998

Case Summary: Rang Bahadur Singh v. State of U.P. Decision: The Supreme Court acquitted the appellants and set aside the High Court's conviction. The Court restored the trial court's acquittal order, finding the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Key Reasoning: Although four eyewitnesses identified the appellants as dacoits in the 1978 Rudauli village dacoity where five people were killed, the Court identified critical investigative failures and inconsistencies: the FIR was delayed and ante-dated, the appellants' names didn't appear in initial police records despite allegedly being identified immediately, no stolen goods were recovered, and the investigating officer made no serious arrest efforts. The Court noted previous enmity between the parties created risk of false implication, and the non-examination of Ram Lakhan Yadav (the first person to see the dacoits) was significant. The Court held that acquitting a potentially guilty person is preferable to convicting an innocent one without certainty. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.