The Patna High Court has set aside a life sentence in a nearly nine-year-old murder case from Araria, pulling up the trial court for basing its verdict on evidence that the law does not permit. The Division Bench said, in no uncertain terms, that the conviction rested mainly on a police confession and shaky seizures, both of which failed basic legal tests.
Background
The case dates back to December 2016, when the body of an unidentified man was found near Diwari Fatak Bridge in Araria district. The police later identified him as Niyaz Ahmed. Vijay Kumar Yadav, also known as Vivek Kumar or Golu, was arrested and charged with murder and causing disappearance of evidence.
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In 2018, a sessions court convicted him under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC, sentencing him to life imprisonment. Yadav appealed, and by the time the High Court heard the matter in detail, he had already spent over seven years behind bars.
Court’s Observations
Hearing the appeal, Justices Bibek Chaudhuri and Dr. Anshuman went through the prosecution evidence threadbare. The bench was blunt in its assessment, calling the case “a classic example of conviction upon inadmissible evidence.”
The judges noted that key seizure witnesses did not support the prosecution. They openly admitted in court that they were not present during the alleged recovery of an ATM card, mobile phones and documents from the accused’s house. Even so, the trial court had relied on those recoveries.
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More seriously, the conviction leaned heavily on an alleged confession made by the accused to the investigating officer. The bench reminded that the law is clear: “No confession made to a police officer can be used against an accused,” adding that only a magistrate-recorded confession has legal value.
Electronic evidence also came under the scanner. Call detail records, ATM swipe receipts and CCTV footage were produced without the mandatory certificate under the Evidence Act. The shop owner where the ATM transaction allegedly took place was never examined. On top of that, no independent witness identified the accused as being involved in the crime.
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Decision
In the end, the High Court found the prosecution case full of gaps and legal violations. Allowing the appeal, it set aside the 2018 conviction and sentence, and directed that Vijay Kumar Yadav be released forthwith, if not wanted in any other case. The bench noted that due to these “gross mistakes,” the accused had remained in custody for more than seven years without a legally sustainable conviction.
Case Title: Vijay Kumar Yadav @ Vivek Kumar @ Golu vs The State of Bihar
Case Type: Criminal Appeal (DB)
Case No.: Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 673 of 2018
Date of Judgment: 17 December 2025
