The Supreme Court has held that interpolations and “ante-timing” of a First Information Report (FIR) gives benefit of doubt in favour of the accused and will lead to acquittal.
A Bench of Justices V. Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal observed in a recent judgment that changing the time of commission of a crime to give an impression that it happened earlier than it actually did was fatal to the evidentiary value of an FIR.
“Infirmities such as ante-timing of the FIR loses its evidentiary value… entitles the accused to be given the benefit of doubt… It is worth mentioning that an FIR in a criminal case, and particularly in a murder case, is a vital and a valuable piece of evidence especially for the purpose of appreciating the evidence adduced at the trial. It is for this reason that infirmities, if any, in the FIR cast a doubt on its authenticity,” the court held.
