SATYE SINGH & ANOTHERversusSTATE OF UTTARAKHAND

                        [2022] 1 S.C.R. 1137                            1137


                  SATYE SINGH & ANOTHER                                 A
                                 v.
                   STATE OF UTTARAKHAND
                (Criminal Appeal No. 2374 of 2014)
                       FEBRUARY 15, 2022                                B

      [SANJIV KHANNA AND BELA M. TRIVEDI, JJ.]
       Penal Code, 1860 – ss.302, 34 and 201 – Homicidal death –
Circumstantial evidence – Dead body of married woman found in
burnt condition in the Chhan (hut) of her husband – Father of the       C
deceased gave written complaint implicating the husband, mother-
in-law and sister-in-law of the deceased – Accused-appellants i.e.
husband and mother-in-law of the deceased were convicted by the
Sessions Court u/s 302 r/w ss.34 and 201 IPC – High Court upheld
the conviction – Propriety – Held: Conviction can be based solely
on circumstantial evidence but it should be tested on the touchstone    D
of law relating to the circumstantial evidence that all circumstances
must lead to the conclusion that the accused is the only one who
has committed the crime and none else – In the present case, the
prosecution miserably failed to prove the entire chain of
circumstances which would unerringly conclude that alleged act          E
was committed by the accused only and none else – The burden
could not be shifted on the accused by pressing into service the
provisions contained in s.106 of the Evidence Act – Trial court and
the High Court committed gross error of law in convicting the accused
for the alleged crime, merely on basis of suspicion, conjectures and
surmises – Accused-appellants accordingly acquitted – Evidence          F
Act, 1872 – s.106.
      Evidence – Circumstantial evidence – Appreciation of – Held:
Circumstances howsoever strong cannot take place of proof – Guilt
of the accused has to be proved by the prosecution beyond
reasonable doubt.                                                       G
      Allowing the appeal, the Court
      HELD: 1. On the totality of circumstances and evidence
on record, at the most it could be said from the evidence of the

                                                                        H
                                1137
1138            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                      [2022] 1 S.C.R.


 A     parents of the deceased that there was harassment by the accused
       to the deceased, though no charge under section 498A IPC was
       framed by the trial court against the accused. It could be further
       inferred from the evidence on record that the deceased had left
       the house on the previous evening of the alleged incident and
       that she was not found during the whole night, nonetheless such
 B
       circumstance itself could not be said to be sufficient proof to come
       to a conclusion that accused had murdered and burnt deceased
       as alleged. It is settled position of law that circumstances
       howsoever strong cannot take place of proof and that the guilt of
       the accused have to be proved by the prosecution beyond
 C     reasonable doubt. [Para 11][1144-E-G]
             2. Conviction can be based solely on circumstantial
       evidence but it should be tested on the touchstone of law relating
       to the circumstantial evidence that all circumstances must lead
       to the conclusion that the accused is the only one who has
 D     committed the crime and none else. [Para 14][1147-G]
             3.1. In the present case, the prosecution had miserably
       failed to prove the entire chain of circumstances which would
       unerringly conclude that alleged act was committed by the accused
       only and none else. Reliance placed on behalf of the State on
 E     Section 106 of the Evidence Act is also misplaced, inasmuch as
       Section 106 is not intended to relieve the prosecution from
       discharging its duty to prove the guilt of the accused.
       [Para 15][1147-H; 1148-A-B]
             3.2. The prosecution having failed to prove the basic facts
 F
       as alleged against the accused, the burden could not be shifted
       on the accused by pressing into service the provisions contained
       in section 106 of the Evidence Act. There being no cogent
       evidence adduced by the prosecution to prove the entire chain
       of circumstances which may compel the court to arrive at the
 G     conclusion that the accused only had committed the alleged crime,
       the trial court and the High Court had committed gross error of
       law in convicting the accused for the alleged crime, merely on
       the basis of the suspicion, conjectures and surmises.
       [Para 16][1148-F-H]
 H
     SATYE SINGH & ANOTHER v. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND                       1139


      Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v. State of Mahashtra 1984                A
      (4) SCC 116: [1985] 1 SCR 88; State of U.P. v. Ashok
      Kumar Srivastava (1992) 2 SCC 86: [1992] 1 SCR 37;
      Majendran Langeswaran v. State (NCT of Delhi) & Anr.
      (2013) 7 SCC 192: [2013] 10 SCR 907 and Shambu
      Nath Mehra v. State of Ajmer, AIR (1956) SC 404:
                                                                         B
      [1956] SCR 199 – relied on.
                       Case Law Reference
[1985] 1 SCR 88                 relied on               Para 11
[1992] 1 SCR 37                 relied on               Para 13          C
[2013] 10 SCR 907               relied on               Para 14
[1956] SCR 199                  relied on               Para 15
      CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No.
2374 of 2014.                                                            D
       From the Judgment and Order dated 29.08.2013 of the High Court
of Uttarakhand at Nainital in Criminal Jail Appeal No.64 of 2010.
      Shikhil Shiv Suri, (AC), Ms. Madhu Suri, Mrs. Jyoti Suri, Ms.
Nikita Thapar, Ms. Vinishma Kaul, Ms. Komal Gupta, Ms. Mahima
Aggarwal, Advs. for the Appellants.                                      E

     Krishnam Mishra, Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Ashiwan Mishra,
Kamlendra Mishra, Advs. for the Respondent.
      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
      BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.                                                F

      1. The present appeal filed by the appellants-accused emanates
from the Judgment dated 29th August, 2013 passed by the High Court of
Uttarakhand at Nainital in Criminal Jail Appeal No. 64/2010, whereby
the High Court has dismissed the said appeal and upheld the conviction
and sentence awarded by the District & Sessions Judge, Tehri Garhwal     G
in Sessions Trial No. 22/2009. Both the appellants-accused were
convicted by the Sessions Court for the offence under Section 302 read
with Section 34 and Section 201 of the IPC and were sentenced to
undergo life imprisonment and pay fine of Rs. 20,000/- for the offence
under Section 302 read with Section 34 and to undergo rigorous           H
1140            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2022] 1 S.C.R.


 A     imprisonment for a period of six years and pay fine of Rs.10,000/- for
       the offence under Section 201 of the IPC.
              2. The case in nutshell of the prosecution before the Trial Court
       was that Smt. Shashi Devi had married the accused- Satye Singh four
       years prior to the date of incident which had taken place any time between
 B     the evening of 27.06.2009 to the morning of 28.06.2009. The accused-
       Indra Devi happened to be the mother of the accused-Satye Singh. On
       28.06.2009 at about 8.40 a.m., Rai Singh (PW-8), Pradhan of the village-
       Ger of the accused informed Virendra Raj (PW-11), Naib Tehsildar,
       Revenue Police telephonically that one lady had died due to burns. The
       Naib Tehsildar -Virendra Raj (PW-11) therefore reached at the spot i.e.
 C
       Chhan (hut) of the accused, after making an entry of the said information
       in the G.D. vide Rapat No. 28/42, and saw that the dead body of the
       deceased was lyingin the room of Chhan in the burnt condition. It was
       the further case of the prosecution that Sharad Singh, father of the
       deceased, on receiving the phone call from the accused-Satye Singh
 D     had also arrived on the spot. The said Sharad Singh gave a written
       complaint to the Naib Tehsildar against the accused-Satye Singh
       (husband), Indra Devi (mother-in-law), and Sangeeta Devi (sister-in-
       law) of the deceased, which was registered as the Case Crime No. 16/
       2009 on 28.06.2009 at about 4.50 p.m., at the Revenue Police Station
       Bayargaon, District Tehri Garhwal. After the inquest proceedings were
 E
       conducted, the dead body was sealed and taken to the Baushari Hospital
       for the post-mortem. The said Naib Tehsildar after drawing the
       panchnama and other proceedings, arrested the accused- Satye Singh.
       He also recorded the statement of other witnesses. Thereafter, he having
       been transferred, the further investigation was handed over to the Naib
 F     Tehsildar, Gunanand Bahuguna (PW-10). The said Investigating Officer
       after completing the investigation filed charge-sheet against the accused-
       Satye Singh and Indra Devi showing the accused Sangeeta Devi as
       absconding, for the offences under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC in
       the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Tehri Garhwal.
 G            3. The said case being triable by the Court of Sessions was
       committed to the Sessions Court, Tehri Garhwal for trial. Both the
       accused having denied the charges levelled against them, the prosecution
       to prove the charges, led oral evidence by examining 11 witnesses and
       also adduced documentary evidence. After the completion of the evidence
       of prosecution, the accused-Satye Singh in his further statement before
 H
     SATYE SINGH & ANOTHER v. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND                            1141
                   [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

the Trial Court recorded under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. stated inter alia       A
that there was no custom of dowry in their society and that he did not
know how his wife Shashi died. He further stated that he along with
other people of the village had kept on searching Shashi for the whole
night but she was not found. According to him, Shashi had possibly
committed suicide. The accused- Indra Devi had stated that since she
                                                                              B
was the mother of Satye Singh, she was falsely implicated in the case.
The Trial Court after appreciating the evidence on record convicted and
sentenced both the accused as stated hereinabove, vide order dated
11.10.2010, which came to be upheld by the High Court vide the impugned
order.
                                                                              C
       4. The learned Advocate Mr. Shikhil Suri appearing on behalf of
the appellants-accused through Supreme Court Legal Services Committee
vehemently submitted that both the Courts i.e., the Trial Court and the
High Court had committed gross error in convicting the appellants though
there was no cogent evidence adduced by the prosecution to prove the
charges levelled against the appellants. According to him, neither the        D
manner in which the alleged incident had taken place was proved nor
the place at which the deceased was allegedly killed and burnt was
proved by the prosecution. He further submitted that since the appellants
happened to be the husband and mother-in-law of the deceased, they
were arrested and convicted, merely on the basis of suspicion, conjectures
                                                                              E
and surmises. Taking the court to the evidence of witnesses recorded
during the course of trial, he submitted that the case was based on the
circumstantial evidence as there was no eye witness to the alleged incident
and the prosecution had failed to prove the entire chain of circumstances
leading to the guilt of the accused.
                                                                              F
      5. However, the learned Advocate Mr. Krishnam Mishra
appearing for the respondent-State of Uttarakhand submitted that there
being concurrent findings of the facts recorded by the two courts, this
Court exercising limited jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution
of India may not re-appreciate the evidence and come to a different
conclusion. Mr. Mishra further submitted that the prosecution had             G
examined the witnesses to prove that there was a harassment to the
deceased by the accused and on the previous day of the incident also a
quarrel had taken place between the deceased and the accused, which
had resulted into the deceased Shashi leaving the house. According to
him, the accused had tried to mislead the Investigating Officer by            H
1142               SUPREME COURT REPORTS                      [2022] 1 S.C.R.


 A     propounding the story that Shashi had committed suicide, however, from
       the evidence of the doctor viz. Sanjay Kavdwal (PW-9) and the injuries
       mentioned in the post-mortem report, it was duly proved that the injuries
       found on the dead body of Shashi were ante-mortem, and her death was
       caused due to Haemorrhage and shock on account of ante-mortem
       injuries. He, pressing into service Section 106 of the Evidence Act,
 B
       submitted that there was no explanation given by the accused in their
       further statement as to why did Shashi leave their home the previous
       day and what they did they do for the whole night, when Shashi was not
       found.

 C            6. Now it may be stated at the outset that undeniably the entire
       case of the prosecution hinged on circumstantial evidence as there
       was no eye witness to the alleged incident. Though the accused had
       tried to propound the story of the deceased having committed suicide,
       both the courts had rightly not accepted the said story, in view of the
       clinching evidence of the Dr. Sanjay Kavdwal, who had carried out
 D     the post-mortem of the deceased and recorded the injuries found on
       the dead body of the deceased, which were ante-mortem in nature.
       The ante mortem injuries recorded in the post-mortem report were as
       under:
             (i)     Fracture occipital bone 3CMx3CM
 E
             (ii)    Fracture left humoorus (compound) lower
             (iii)   Abdomen was burst and intestine was protruding out,
                     10CM x 4CM

 F           (iv)    Entire body had blackened, charred, peeling, scaring
                     like parchment and the muscles were visible. Hairs of
                     the head had burnt.
              The said doctor had opined that the cause of death was
       Haemorrhage and shock due to ante mortem injuries. The said doctor
 G     was cross-examined at length to prove that the injuries were not ante
       mortem and were due to burning only, however, the doctor had
       categorically denied the same and had further explained as to how and
       when the blisters would develop on the body on account of burning.
       From the said evidence of the doctor, there remains no shadow of doubt
       that the deceased Shashi had died a homicidal death.
 H
     SATYE SINGH & ANOTHER v. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND                             1143
                   [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

       7. This takes the Court to the next issue as to how and who caused      A
the death of Shashi. The prosecution in order to prove the charges levelled
against the accused had examined 11 witnesses. However, none of
witnesses had any knowledge about the alleged incident. PW-1 viz.
Jontara Devi, aunt of the deceased had deposed, inter alia, thaton 27th
at about 11.00 o’clock Satye Singh had made a phone call to her to
                                                                               B
enquire whether the Shashi had come to her house, and that on the next
day she had come to know that Shashi was burnt to death. In the cross-
examination, she had admitted that the accused Satye Singh or all his
family members had never made any demand of dowry in her presence,
nor any assault was made by them in her presence.
                                                                               C
        8. The father of the deceased – Sharad Singh (PW-2) of course
had stated in his evidence that the accused i.e., husband of the deceased
and his family members used to harass his daughter- Shashi for dowry
and, therefore, many a times Shashi used to come his house running. He
had also stated that one month prior to the incident in question, Shashi
had come to his house and told him that she was being assaulted and            D
abused by the accused for the dowry. As regards the incident in question,
he had stated that Satye Singh had called him in the morning at about 10-
11 o’clock to inform him that Shashi had committed suicide by setting
herself ablaze. He therefore along with villagers had gone to the Chhan
of the accused and saw that dead body of Shashi was lying there in
                                                                               E
burnt condition. He had given the written complaint to the police with
regard to the incident in question. In the cross examination he had admitted
that he had never seen any injuries on her body nor he had lodged any
complaint about the alleged harassment by the accused. He had further
stated that the Chhan i.e. cowshed of the accused was situated at the
distance of half an hour of the house of the accused at village Ger and        F
that there was a forest of Baanj, Buransh in between the village and the
Chhan. He had also stated that the father of the Satye Singh was deaf
and dumb. He also admitted that on the previous evening when Jontara
Devi informed him about the phone call from Satye Singh enquiring about
Shashi, he did not go to the village of the accused, thinking that they        G
keep on quarrelling like that. He also admitted that Satye Singh and all
his family members were present when he reached at the spot i.e., the
Chhan. He had admitted that he did not know as to how his daughter
was burnt, however, had denied the suggestion that Shashi had caught
fire from the Chulla (hearth). He also denied that there was no harassment
by the accused to his daughter.                                                H
1144             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                            [2022] 1 S.C.R.


 A           9. PW -3 Bhagdeyi Devi, mother of the deceased, PW-5 (Bharat
       Singh) uncle of the deceased and other villagers PW-4 (Bhagat Singh),
       PW-6 (Balbir Singh) and PW-7 (Gabbar Singh) were examined by the
       prosecution, however, none had any knowledge as to how, when and
       where the deceased was killed and burnt.
 B            10. It is also very pertinent to note that the entire investigation
       carried out by the Investigating Officers Gunanand Bahuguna (PW -10)
       and Virendra Raj (PW-11) was in a very cursory and shoddy manner.
       On receiving the information from Shri Rai Singh, Pradhan of the village,
       the Naib Tehsildar (Virendra Raj) had reached to the spot i.e the Chhan
       and registered the complaint against the accused Satye Singh, Indra
 C
       Devi and Sangeeta Devi, at the instance of the complainant Sharad Singh,
       however, had not bothered to investigate as to how the incident had
       taken place. There was no investigation carried out by either of the
       Investigating Officers as to at which place the deceased was killed and
       burnt, and how and by whom her burnt body brought in the Chhan.
 D     Though, according to the Investigating Officer, it was suspected that the
       crime was committed by Atar Singh, father of Satye Singh, he was never
       implicated in the case. There was no recovery and discovery of any
       incriminating articles made from the accused during the course of
       investigation and no attempt was made to collect any evidence much
       less cogent evidence to connect the accused with the alleged crime.
 E
              11. On the totality of circumstances and evidence on record, at
       the most it could be said from the evidence of the parents of the deceased
       that there was harassment by the accused to the deceased, though no
       charge under section 498A of IPC was framed by the trial court against
       the accused. It could be further inferred from the evidence on record
 F     that the deceased Shashi had left the house on the previous evening of
       the alleged incident and that she was not found during the whole night,
       nonetheless such circumstance itself could not be said to be sufficient
       proof to come to a conclusion that accused had murdered and burnt
       Shashi as alleged. It is settled position of law that circumstances
 G     howsoever strong cannot take place of proof and that the guilt of the
       accused have to be proved by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt.
       At this juncture, let us regurgitate, the golden principles laid down by this
       Court in Sharad Birdhichand Sarda vs. State of Mahashtra reported
       in 1984 (4) SCC 116. This court while drawing the distinction between
       “must be” and “may be” observed as under in para 153:
 H
SATYE SINGH & ANOTHER v. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND                         1145
              [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

“153. A close analysis of this decision would show that the           A
following conditions must be fulfilled before a case against
an accused can be said to be fully established:
   (1) the circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is
   to be drawn should be fully established.
                                                                      B
   It may be noted here that this Court indicated that the
   circumstances concerned “must or should” and not “may
   be” established. There is not only a grammatical but a legal
   distinction between “may be proved” and “must be or
   should be proved” as was held by this Court in Shivaji
   Sahabrao Bobade v. State of Maharashtra [(1973) 2 SCC              C
   793 : 1973 SCC (Cri) 1033 : 1973 Crl LJ 1783] where the
   observations were made.
   Certainly, it is a primary principle that the accused must be
   and not merely may be guilty before a court can convict
   and the mental distance between ‘may be’ and ‘must be’ is          D
   long and divides vague conjectures from sure conclusions.
   (2) the facts so established should be consistent only with
   the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused, that is to say,
   they should not be explainable on any other hypothesis
   except that the accused is guilty,                                 E
   (3) the circumstances should be of a conclusive nature and
   tendency,
   (4) they should exclude every possible hypothesis except
   the one to be proved, and                                          F
   (5) there must be a chain of evidence so complete as not to
   leave any reasonable ground for the conclusion consistent
   with the innocence of the accused and must show that in
   all human probability the act must have been done by the
   accused.”                                                          G
12. It was further observed in Para-158 to 160 as under:
“158. It may be necessary here to notice a very forceful argument
submitted by the Additional Solicitor General relying on a decision
of this Court in Deonandan Mishra v. State of Bihar [AIR 1955
                                                                      H
1146      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2022] 1 S.C.R.


 A     SC 801 : (1955) 2 SCR 570, 582 : 1955 Cri LJ 1647] to
       supplement his argument that if the defence case is false it would
       constitute an additional link so as to fortify the prosecution case.
       With due respect to the learned Additional Solicitor-General we
       are unable to agree with the interpretation given by him of the
       aforesaid case, the relevant portion of which may be extracted
 B
       thus:
       “But in a case like this where the various links as stated above
       have been satisfactorily made out and the circumstances point
       to the appellant as the probable assailant, with reasonable
       definiteness and in proximity to the deceased as regards time
 C
       and situation,. . . such absence of explanation or false
       explanation would itself be an additional link which completes
       the chain.”
       159. It will be seen that this Court while taking into account
       the absence of explanation or a false explanation did hold
 D
       that it will amount to be an additional link to complete the
       chain but these observations must be read in the light of what
       this Court said earlier viz. before a false explanation can be
       used as additional link, the following essential conditions must
       be satisfied:
 E
       (1)   various links in the chain of evidence led by the
             prosecution have been satisfactorily proved,
       (2)   the said circumstance points to the guilt of the accused
             with reasonable definiteness, and
 F     (3)   the circumstance is in proximity to the time and
             situation.
       160. If these conditions are fulfilled only then a court can
       use a false explanation or a false defence as an additional
       link to lend an assurance to the court and not otherwise. On
 G     the facts and circumstances of the present case, this does not
       appear to be such a case. This aspect of the matter was
       examined in Shankarlal case [(1981) 2 SCC 35, 39 : 1981
       SCC (Cri) 315, 318-19 : (1981) 2 SCR 384, 390 : 1981 Cri
       LJ 325] where this Court observed thus : [SCC para 30, p. 43
       : SCC (Cri) p. 322]’’
 H
     SATYE SINGH & ANOTHER v. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND                          1147
                   [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

      “Besides, falsity of defence cannot take the place of proof of        A
      facts which the prosecution has to establish in order to succeed.
      A false plea can at best be considered as an additional
      circumstances, if other circumstances point unfailingly to the
      guilt of the accused.”
       13. The said principles have been restated in catena of decisions.   B
In State of U.P. vs. Ashok Kumar Srivastava (1992) 2 SCC 86, it has
been observed in para 9 that:
      ’’9. This Court has, time out of number, observed that while
      appreciating circumstantial evidence the Court must adopt
      a very cautious approach and should record a conviction               C
      only if all the links in the chain are complete pointing to the
      guilt of the accused and every hypothesis of innocence is
      capable of being negatived on evidence. Great care must be
      taken in evaluating circumstantial evidence and if the
      evidence relied on is reasonably capable of two inferences,
      the one in favour of the accused must be accepted. The                D
      circumstance relied upon must be found to have been fully
      established and the cumulative effect of all the facts so
      established must be consistent only with the hypothesis of
      guilt. But this is not to say that the prosecution must meet
      any and every hypothesis put forward by the accused however           E
      far-fetched and fanciful it might be. Nor does it mean that
      prosecution evidence must be rejected on the slightest doubt
      because the law permits rejection if the doubt is reasonable
      and not otherwise.’’
       14. Again in Majendran Langeswaran vs. State (NCT of                 F
Delhi) & Anr. (2013) 7 SCC 192, this court having found the material
relied upon by the prosecution inconsistent and the infirmities in the
case of the prosecution, considered number of earlier decisions, and
held that the conviction can be based solely on circumstantial evidence
but it should be tested on the touchstone of law relating to the
circumstantial evidence that all circumstances must lead to the             G
conclusion that the accused is the only one who has committed the
crime and none else.
       15. Applying the said principles to the facts of the present case,
the Court is of the opinion that the prosecution had miserably failed to
prove the entire chain of circumstances which would unerringly conclude     H
1148            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2022] 1 S.C.R.


 A     that alleged act was committed by the accused only and none else.
       Reliance placed by learned advocate Mr. Mishra for the State on Section
       106 of the Evidence Act is also misplaced, inasmuch as Section 106 is
       not intended to relieve the prosecution from discharging its duty to prove
       the guilt of the accused. In Shambu Nath Mehra vs. State of Ajmer,
       AIR (1956) SC 404, this court had aptly explained the scope of Section
 B
       106 of the Evidence Act in criminal trial. It was held in para 9:
             “9. This lays down the general rule that in a criminal case
             the burden of proof is on the prosecution and Section 106 is
             certainly not intended to relieve it of that duty. On the
             contrary, it is designed to meet certain exceptional cases in
 C           which it would be impossible, or at any rate
             disproportionately difficult, for the prosecution to establish
             facts which are “especially” within the knowledge of the
             accused and which he could prove without difficulty or
             inconvenience. The word “especially” stresses that. It means
 D           facts that are pre-eminently or exceptionally within his
             knowledge. If the section were to be interpreted otherwise,
             it would lead to the very startling conclusion that in a murder
             case the burden lies on the accused to prove that he did not
             commit the murder because who could know better than he
             whether he did or did not. It is evident that that cannot be
 E           the intention and the Privy Council has twice refused to
             construe this section, as reproduced in certain other Acts
             outside India, to mean that the burden lies on an accused
             person to show that he did not commit the crime for which
             he is tried. These cases are Attygalle v. Emperor [AIR 1936
 F           PC 169] and Seneviratne v. R. [(1936) 3 All ER 36, 49]”
              16. In the case on hand, the prosecution having failed to prove
       the basic facts as alleged against the accused, the burden could not be
       shifted on the accused by pressing into service the provisions contained
       in section 106 of the Evidence Act. There being no cogent evidence
 G     adduced by the prosecution to prove the entire chain of circumstances
       which may compel the court to arrive at the conclusion that the accused
       only had committed the alleged crime, the court has no hesitation in
       holding that the Trial Court and the High Court had committed gross
       error of law in convicting the accused for the alleged crime, merely on
       the basis of the suspicion, conjectures and surmises.
 H
      SATYE SINGH & ANOTHER v. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND                          1149
                    [BELA M. TRIVEDI, J.]

       17. In that view of the matter, the impugned judgments deserve to     A
be quashed and set aside and are hereby set aside accordingly. The
accused are acquitted from the charges levelled against them and are
directed to be set free forthwith.
       18. The appeal stands allowed accordingly.
                                                                             B
Bibhuti Bhushan Bose                                       Appeal allowed.
(Assisted by : Preetam Bharti, LCRA)




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