# Supreme Court upholds acquittal of 20 in murder case over identical witness accounts 2026-08-10T06:36:47+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet The Supreme Court has upheld the Bombay High Court's order acquitting 20 people convicted of murder, ruling that the trial court relied on eyewitness accounts that were improbably identical. Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Augustine George Masih noted that witnesses described the roles of all 23 accused with minute uniformity, despite being differently positioned during the incident. The court said such identical testimonies, recorded days after the event, "bear the imprint of tutoring" rather than truthful recollection. The case arose from a 2014 altercation over DJ music, in which one man died from assault with iron pipes and planks. The trial court convicted 20 of 23 accused; one died during trial and two were acquitted. The High Court reversed the convictions, finding the witnesses had spoken in almost identical fashion. The Supreme Court dismissed the state's appeal, also noting that even an injured witness's account cannot reliably list the precise role of each of 23 persons identically days later. ## Coverage - livelaw.in Tags: acquittal, Bombay High Court, criminal justice, eyewitness testimony, murder case, Supreme Court Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-upholds-acquittal-of-20-in-murder-case-over-identical-witness-accounts/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-upholds-acquittal-of-20-in-murder-case-over-identical-witness-accounts/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.