Supreme Court of India

Delhi Law Academy Jaipur presents below for aspirants of Rajasthan Judicial Service (RJS), DJS, PCS (J) and other Judicial Services throughout India a very important judgment of the Supreme Court of India on the law relating to appeal in a higher court against an order of acquittal from the lower courts delivered in 2011.

Presented below: Summarized version [by Delhi Law Academy Jaipur] of the Supreme Court Judgment in the case of State of Rajasthan v. Abdul Mannan.

This judgment has been summarized in just about 4 pages by Delhi Law Academy while retaining the original language and original content.

J U D G M E N T

These appeals are directed against the judgment of the High Court of Rajasthan, Bench at Jaipur dated 15th March, 2005 in a case of communal violence. The trial court vide its judgment dated 7th September, 1999 returned a finding that charge against three accused namely Abdul Mannan, Afzal and Abdul Zabbar under Sections 302/149, 148, 324/149 and 449 of the Indian Penal Code was fully established beyond reasonable doubt:

Aggrieved by the judgment of the trial court, all the three accused preferred an appeal before the High Court, raising various issues in relation to the appreciation of evidence, false implications, contradiction in statements of witnesses and that no evidence had been led against them. On these premises, they prayed for setting aside of the judgment of the trial court and claimed acquittal. The High Court vide its judgment dated 15th March, 2005, acquitted all the accused

State of Rajasthan aggrieved by the said judgment of acquittal, preferred the present appeal before this Court.

The trial court had specifically recorded the finding that the prosecution has been able to establish its case that the role of the accused in inflicting injuries upon the body of the deceased persons had fully been established and therefore, they were liable to be punished in accordance with law.

However, the High Court while upsetting the said finding noticed that PW4, PW5 and PW7 were untruthful witnesses and that the trial court had not properly appreciated the prosecution evidence, and therefore, committed an illegality in convicting and sentencing the accused.

As is evident from the above recorded findings, the judgment of conviction was converted to a judgment of acquittal by the High Court. Thus, the first and foremost question that we need to consider is, in what circumstances this Court should interfere with the judgment of acquittal.

Against an order of acquittal, an appeal by the State is maintainable to this Court only with the leave of the Court.

On the contrary, if the judgment of acquittal passed by the trial court is set aside by the High Court, and the accused is sentenced to death, or life imprisonment, or imprisonment of more than 10 years, then the right of appeal of the accused is treated as an absolute right subject to the provisions of Articles 134 91) (a) and 134 (1) (b) of the Constitution of India and Section 379 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. In light of this, it is obvious that appeal against acquittal is considered on slightly different parameters compared to an ordinary appeal preferred to this Court.

When an accused is acquitted of a criminal charge, a right vests in him to be a free citizen and this Court is very cautious in taking away that right. The presumption of innocence of the accused is further strengthened by the fact of acquittal of the accused under our criminal jurisprudence. The courts have held that if two views are possible on the evidence adduced in the case, then the one favourable to the accused, may be adopted by the Court.

However, this principle must be applied keeping in view the facts and circumstances of a case and the thumb rule is whether the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. If the prosecution has succeeded in discharging its onus, and the error in appreciation of evidence is apparent on the face of the record then the Court can interfere in the judgment of acquittal to ensure that the ends of justice are met. This is the linchpin around which the administration of criminal justice revolves. It is a settled principle of criminal jurisprudence that the burden of proof lies on the prosecution and it has to prove a charge beyond reasonable doubt. The presumption of innocence and the right to fair trail are twin safeguards available to the accused under our criminal justice system but once the prosecution has proved its case and the evidence led by the prosecution, in conjunction with the chain of events as are stated to have occurred, if, points irresistibly to the conclusion that accused is guilty then the Court can interfere even with the judgment of acquittal. The judgment of acquittal might be based upon misappreciation of evidence or apparent violation of settled canons of criminal jurisprudence.

Establishment of a complete chain of events and clear identification of the persons assailing the deceased lead to the irresistible conclusion that the prosecution has been able to bring home the guilt of the accused.

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The core of the prosecution case is that when the mob came, PWs 4 and 5 ran to their houses, locked their doors, went to the roof of the houses which were adjacent to the house of the deceased and watched some members of the mob, of whom they could identify a few, assault the deceased. This statement clearly shows the trustworthiness of these witnesses as they have stated that there were some other persons whom they could not identify. However both these witnesses and complainant Satyanarain clearly identified the persons who had entered and assaulted the deceased persons.

Though Satyanarain (PW 7) fully supported the case of the prosecution that he was also assaulted by these persons, he did speak in a different voice the next day before the Court. In our considered opinion the cumulative effect of the ocular evidence and documentary evidence is that the prosecution has been able to establish its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Section 149 consists of two parts; the first deals with the commission of an offence by any member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object of that assembly; the second part deals with commission of an offence by any member of an unlawful assembly in a situation where other members of that assembly know the likelihood of the offence being committed in prosecution of that object. In either case, every member of that assembly is guilty of the same offence, which other members have committed in prosecution of the common object.

The final point is the common object. The case of Lokeman Shah v. State of W.B. [(2001)5 SCC 235] on this point would further substantiate the case of the State and diminish the worth of the defence. Accused have inflicted the injuries after raising slogan and have commonly participated in committing offence which resulted in the death of the deceased.

For the reasons afore-recorded, we find the present case a fit case for interference in the judgment of acquittal recorded by the High Court. Consequently, the appeals of the State are allowed, the judgment of the High Court is set aside and that of the trial court is restored. We concur with the finding of guilt and the quantum of punishment awarded by the trial court.

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