The Supreme Court has set aside the life sentence of a tribal man from Chhattisgarh convicted of murder after finding that the trial court recorded the testimony of key prosecution witnesses without his presence, and held the lapse vitiated the entire trial for violating a mandatory procedural safeguard.
Coming to the rescue of Munna Mandavi, who has spent nine years in custody, a bench of justices Satish Chandra Sharma and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh ordered a fresh trial, directing the trial court to examine all witnesses afresh in his presence. The court also ordered his immediate release on bail, subject to conditions imposed by the trial court. The bench underscored that the prosecution could not escape its responsibility to ensure the accused’s presence during the recording of evidence, particularly when he was in custody and the district jail was barely three kilometres from the court. Mandavi was in custody, and there was no question of his personal attendance having been dispensed with, the court noted. “Meaning thereby, all evidence was required to be taken in the course of the trial in the presence of the accused. The same, however, has not been done. The bench was not persuaded that this distinction could save the proceedings. With the accused in custody and the jail located close to the court, the responsibility to ensure his presence could not simply be overlooked.
The case arose from an incident on December 29, 2017, in Sukma district, where Mandavi allegedly assaulted Somaru, whom he suspected of practising black magic and being responsible for the death of his son. Somaru succumbed to his injuries, leading to Mandavi’s prosecution for murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and an offence under the Chhattisgarh Tonhi Pratadna Niwaran Adhiniyam, 2005 — a law dealing with witchcraft-related harassment. The trial court convicted Mandavi in November 2021, relying, among other things, on the testimony of two prosecution witnesses who attributed the assault with an axe to him. The Chhattisgarh High Court upheld the conviction in January 2025, leaving him to serve a life sentence.
Therefore, the entire trial stands vitiated,” declared the bench.
It emphasised that nothing prevented the prosecution from producing Mandavi before the trial court, especially when the witnesses’ statements were being recorded behind his back.
“We are dealing with a case concerning a poor tribal who is not aware with the legal provisions and who, with great difficulty, engages a lawyer,” noted the court in its October 5 order, highlighting the circumstances in which the trial had proceeded without Mandavi being present to hear the evidence against him.
