Supreme Court overturns murder convictions, cites accidental drowning

Two individuals who had been convicted by a trial court and later by the Gujarat high court of murdering a friend who drowned were acquitted by the Supreme Court of India. The high court had based its life-imprisonment sentence on the defendants' decision to leave the riverbank and go to a cinema, interpreting it as proof of culpability. Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran, however, found no forensic or eyewitness evidence establishing homicide.

While condemning the defendants' failure to attempt a rescue, the bench held that such conduct could not substitute for proof of intent. The court described the incident as an accidental drowning and dismissed the murder hypothesis. The ruling underscores the principle that speculative behavior cannot serve as the sole basis for a conviction.