SC: Educated and god-fearing' not a guarantee for good repute

IT cannot be said that a person’s reputation is good merely because he is “educated and god-fearing,” the Supreme Court has observed

- JAISON WILSON

The observation came in a judgment as a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and J B Pardiwala was dealing with a plea against a conviction for life imprisonment imposed by the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

“A court of law cannot declare the reputation of a person good based upon its own opinion, merely because a person is educated and is said to be godfearing. That by itself will not create a positive reputation,” stated the order.

Reversing the High Court order, which was passed against a trial court order, the apex court held that the High Court had “misconstrued the concept of reputation and blindly believed the evidence” of a prosecution witness, on whom the it primarily relied.