Allahabad High Court

SUNNA LAL AND OTHERSversusSTATE OF U.P.

Decided: 27 January 2026
Bench: VANI RANJAN AGRAWAL

Holding

The appeal is allowed; the conviction is set aside and the appellants are acquitted due to the impossibility of retrial.

Summary

An FIR was lodged against five accused for offences under Sections 147, 307/149 and 323/149 of the IPC. The Special & Additional Sessions Judge convicted them in 1983, sentencing them to five years rigorous imprisonment for Section 307/149 and six months for Section 147, to run concurrently. The appellants appealed, but the trial court records were later found destroyed and could not be reconstructed. The High Court examined whether a retrial was feasible after a 45‑year lapse and concluded that it would be futile due to loss of evidence and faded witness memory. Relying on precedent that loss of lower court records precludes retrial, the Court set aside the conviction, acquitted the appellants, cancelled their bail bonds and discharged sureties.

Issues considered

Whether a retrial can be ordered when the lower court record is lost and reconstruction is impossible after a long lapse.
Whether the conviction must be set aside on the ground of impossibility of retrial.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code — s. 147, 149, 307, 323

Subjects

criminal appeal
loss of records
retrial
acquittal
IPC sections 147 307 149 323
bail cancellation
surety discharge
procedural law

Judgment

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD

CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 773 of 1983

Sunna Lal And Others
.....Appellant(s)
Versus
State of U.P.
.....Respondent(s)

Counsel for Appellant(s) : A.C. Chaturvedi, I.M.Kushwaha, N.K.
Mishra, R.K. Kaushik, Satyendra
Prakash Srivastava, Vijay Kumar
Kushwaha
Counsel for Respondent(s) : A.G.A, Ankita Singh, Awadhesh Kumar
Shukla, Brijesh Sahai, Indra Kumar
Chaturvedi(Senior Adv.)

Court No. - 93
HON'BLE MRS. VANI RANJAN AGRAWAL, J.

1. Heard Sri Satyendra Prakash Srivastava, learned counsel for the appellant
and Sri Rahul Asthana, learned A.G.A. for the State respondent.

2. Upon a written report, First Information Report (F.I.R.) was registered
against five accused persons namely Sunna Lal, Ram Charan, Nand Kishore,
Sita Ram and Ghanshyam and after due investigation charge sheet was
submitted under Sections 147, 307/149 and 323/149 I.P.C., Police Station
Kotwali, District Jhansi and vide judgement and order dated 31.3.1983
passed by learned Special & Additional Sessions Judge, Jhansi in Sessions
Trial No.217 of 1981 (State vs. Sunna Lal and others), under Sections 307
read with Section 149, 147 I.P.C., whereby convicting and sentencing the
appellants under Section 307 read with Section 149 I.P.C. to undergo five
years rigorous imprisonment; under Sections 147 I.P.C. to undergo six
months imprisonment and all the sentences passed against each accused will
run concurrently.

3. Being aggrieved the accused-appellants preferred this criminal appeal
against their conviction and sentence.

4. This appeal stands already abated qua the appellant no.2 namely Ram
Charan and appellant no.4 Sita Ram vide order dated 16.9.2025 passed by
CRLA No. 773 of 1983
2

coordinate Bench of this Court.

5. Lower Court Record in this case was not received by this Court. In
compliance of order dated 9.1.2020 passed by this Court a report has been
submitted by the Incharge Officer of the record room, District Court, Jhansi
wherein it has been stated that Nathi 'ka' of the trial Court record has been
destroyed and an inquiry has been instituted in this regard. Further a report
has been submitted by the office on 5.10.2021 submitting that a letter dated
15.9.2020 (flag 'B') of the learned District Judge, Jhansi has been received
wherein it has been stated that reconstruction of trial Court record of S.T.
No.217 of 1981 is not possible. Thus I find that Lower Court Record is not
traceable and its reconstruction is not possible.

6. Now, I consider as to whether retrial would be appropriate or not. It may
be noted here that the incident is dated 28.6.1980. The trial is of the year
1981. The judgment of the Court below is dated 31.3.1983 and this appeal is
pending before this Court since 1983. After a gap of almost 45 years from
the date of incident, in absence of the record no fruitful purpose would be
served for directing retrial. Firstly the relevant papers which need to be
proved and exhibited are not available and even if some of the witnesses are
available, after four decades, no purposes would be served. Further after a
gap of 45 years the memory of the witnesses to depose accurate account of
the incident would be doubtful. I am accordingly of the view that the retrial
would be an exercise in futility.

7. Considering the law on the point that where Lower Court Record is not
traceable, reconstruction is not possible and even retrial is not possible as
laid down by the Apex Court in the case of State of U.P. vs. Abhay Raj
Singh, reported in 2004 (4) SCC 6 and Division Bench in the case of
Brahmanand Shukla vs. State of U.P. [LAWS (AlLL)-2010-4-10, I am
left with no option but to decide this appeal as per the settled law.

8. The Criminal Appeal No.773 of 1983 is accordingly allowed. The
judgment and order of the Trial Court dated 31.3.1983 is set aside and the
CRLA No. 773 of 1983
3

above named accused are acquitted of the charges levelled against them. The
above named accused-appellants are on bail. Their bail bonds and sureties
are cancelled. The sureties are discharged from their liabilities. In case the
above named accused-appellants Sunna Lal, Nand Kishore and Ghanshyam
are not wanted in any other case, they need not to surrender.
January 28, 2026
Dev
(Mrs. Vani Ranjan Agrawal,J.)

Digitally signed by :-
DEV PRAKASH
High Court of Judicature at Allahabad

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