Holding

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the High Court’s acquittal as there were no compelling reasons to overturn it.

Summary

The dead body of a seven‑year‑old boy was recovered from a well; he had last been seen with the accused, Jai Prakash, who was alleged to have animosity towards the victim’s family and a motive to use the child to facilitate a sexual assault on a woman. The trial court convicted the accused under Sections 302, 364 and 201 of the IPC, but the Allahabad High Court acquitted him, finding the prosecution’s version implausible and the evidence unreliable. The State appealed to the Supreme Court, raising the question of whether an appellate court may disturb an acquittal and whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction. The Supreme Court held that while an appellate court may review an acquittal, interference is permissible only on compelling and substantial grounds, which were absent here. It affirmed that the prosecution’s scenario was unnatural, the key witness statements were inconsistent, and the evidence did not meet the threshold for conviction, thereby dismissing the appeal and upholding the acquittal.

Issues considered

Whether an appellate court can interfere with an order of acquittal under the principles of criminal jurisprudence
Whether the evidence on record is sufficient to sustain convictions under Sections 302, 364 and 201 IPC
Whether there are compelling and substantial reasons to set aside the High Court's acquittal

Legislation cited

Indian Evidence Act, 1872s. 27
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 201, s. 302, s. 364

Subjects

murderkidnappingacquittalappellate reviewevidentiary insufficiencypresumption of innocencemiscarriage of justicecriminal appealIPC

Judgment

l

A STATEOFU.P. >: ~·

l'.

JAi PRAKASH

JUNE 20, 2007

B [DR. ARIJIT PASA YAT AND D.K. JAIN, JJ.]

Penal Code, 1860---ss. 302, 364 & 201-Recovery of dead body from
well-Deceased last seen in company of Respondent-Respondent allegedly
had animosity towards family of deceased-Conviction of Respondent by
c Trial Court-Set aside by High Court in appeal-On facts, held: Scenario
presented by prosecution not natural and improbable-In view of the nature
of the evidence tendered by.. prosecution, High Court right in acquitting
Respondent-Appeal against acquittal-Duty of Appellate Court.

D The dead body of PW3's son aged 7 years was recovered from a well.
Deceased was last seen in the company of Respondent. Respondent allegedly
had animosity towards the family of deceased. Trial Court convicted ~-

Respondent under Sections 302, 364 & 201 IPC. High Court set aside the
conviction. Hence the present appeal.

E Dismissing the appeal, the Court

HELD: 1. There is no embargo on the appellate Court reviewing the
evidence upon which an order of acquittal is based. Generally, the order of
acquittal shall not be interfered with because the presumption of innocence
of the accused is further strengthened by acquittal. The golden thread which
F runs through the web of administration of justice in criminal cases is that if }·

two views are possible on the evidence adduced in the case, one pointing to ""
the guilt of the accused and the other to his innocence, the view which is
favourable to the accused should be adopted. The paramount consideration of
the Court is to ensure that miscarriage of justice is prevented. A miscarriage
of justice which may arise from acquittal of the guilty is no less than from
G
the conviction of an innocent. In a case where admissible evidence is ignored,
a duty is cast upon the appellate Court to re-appreciate the evidence where
the accused has been acquitted, for the purpose of ascertaining as to whether
any of the accused really committed any offence or not. >-'
jPara 6111093-G; 1094-A, Bl
H 1090
STATE OF U.P. \'.JAi PRAKASH 1091
Bhagwan Singh and Ors. v. State of Madhya Pradesh. (2002) 2 Supreme A
567, relied on.

1.2. The principle to be followed by appellate Court considering the
appeal against the judgment of acquittal is to interfere only when there are
compelling and substantial reasons for doing so. If the impugned judgment
is clearly unreasonable and relevant and convincing materials have been B
unjustifiably eliminated in the process, it is a compelling reason for
interference. [Para 6) (1094-B, CJ ·
Shivaji Sahabrao Bobade and Anr. v. State of Maharashtra, AIR (1973)
SC 2622; Ramesh Babula! Doshiv. State of Gujarat, (1996) 4 Supreme 167; C
Jaswant Singh v. State of Haryana, (2000) 3 Supreme 320; Raj Kishore Jha
v. State of Bihar and Ors., (2003) 7 Supreme 152; State of Punjab v. Karnail
Singh, (2003) 5 Supreme 508 and State of Punjab v. Pohla Singh and Anr.,

- (2003) 7 Supreme 17, relied on.

2. In the instant case the scenario presented by the prosecution does D
not appear to be natural. Prosecution case for establishing motive was that
-f the accused was harassing PW-3 and had been rebuked for that It was also
stated that on several occasions accused wanted to sexually assaµlt PW-8 and
to ensure that she is not left alone, the deceased was asked to accompany her.
In this background it is improbable and unnatural as rightly held by the High
Court that PW-3 would permit deceased to go with the accused and would not E
take any precaution when she claimed to have seen the deceased in the
company of the accused. Evidence of PW-4 is also not acceptable. His version
in Court was that the accused was carrying the deceased on a bicycle. He did .
not say so during investigation. In view of the nature of the evidence tendered
by the prosecution, the High Court was right in directing acquittal of the F
respondent. [Paras 7 and 8) (1094-E, F, Gj

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 635 of
2001.

From the Judgment and Order ~ated of the 27.04.2000 of the High Court G
of Judicature at Allahabad in Crl. A. No. 2633 of 1980.

Sahdev Singh, Vikas Bansal, Sanjay Kr. Singh and Anuvrat Sharma for
the Appellant.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
H
1092 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2007) 7 S.C.R.

A OR ARIJIT PASA VAT, J. I. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment
of the Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court. directing acquittal of the
respondent by setting aside the judgment of conviction and sentence passed
by learned Ill Additional District and Sessions Judge, Aligarh in Sessions
Trial No.391/1979. Accused was convicted for offence punishable under
B Sections 302, 364 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the 'IPC').
He was awarded life imprisonment for each of the first two offences and five
years RI for the last one. All the sentences were directed to run concurrently.

2. Sans unnecessary details prosecution version as unfolded during
trial is as follows:
c In the morning of 21-2-1978 the accused-respondent was found talking
with Nuruddin (hereinafter referred to as 'the deceased') at about 9 '0' clock
in front of his house where he was playing. The accused-respondent allegedly
took him with him and thereafter Nuruddin was not seen and his dead body
~as recovered in the night from a well. Natthu Singh (PW-4) had allegedly
D seen in the same forenoon the deceased- Nuruddin going on a cycle with the
-
accused-respondent. Smt. Khatoon (PW-3) mother of the deceased-Nuruddin
had also seen Nuruddin with the accused-respondent outside her house at
about 9 A.M. She had also seen him going with him. Thereafter, only his dead
body could be recovered from a well. Amina (PW-8) had also seen Nuruddin
talking with the accused-respondent outside her house in the morning of the
E day of the incident. Allahdin (PW-2) had gone to Hathras to sell iron nails
and had returned home at about 5 P.M. His wife Smt. Khatoon (PW-3) had
then told him that Nuruddin had not been seen since morning and that the
· accused-respondent had taken him. He was also informed by Natthu Singh
(PW-4) and others that they had seen the deceased going on a cycle with
p the accused-respondent. He had then lodged the report the same night at 9.10
P.M.

The dead body of the deceased was recovered from the well of Raja
Ram the same night at the instance of the accused-respondent who had
allegedly been arrested by the SI Naresh Pal Yadav (PW-7) who had reached
G the village of the incident at about l 0 P.M. Balbir (PW-6) was a witness of
the recovery of the dead body of the deceased from the well at the instance
of the accused and in consequence of the disclosure made by him under
Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (in short 'Evidence Act'). The
case was initially registered under Section 364 IPC but was subsequently
H converted additionally under Section 302 IPC and Section 20 l IPC on the
STATEOFU.P. v.JAI PRAKASH[PASAYAT.J.) 1093
recovery of the dead body. A
The dead body was subjected to postmortem which was conducted on
22-2-1978 at 3 P.M. by Dr. S.K. Saxena (PW-I). The deceased was aged about
7 years and about 11/2 day had passed since he died. The following ante-
mortem injuries were found on his person:
B
I. Lacerated wound I Yz " x I" x bone deep on the scalp (L) side '/
2" outer to midline, I Yi" above (L) eyebrow.

2. Three abrasions in an area of 2" x 2" on the (L) temple region
varying from V." x W' to Yi' x 2/10". Skin of hands and feet was
corrugated. C
Death had occurred due to coma and asphyxia owing to injury to brain
and drowning. The investigation was undertaken and charge sheet was filed.
As noted above, the Trial Court found the accused persons guilty.

3. In appeal, the appellant urged that the version of prosecution is D
clearly unbelievable. If the accused had the motive the scenario as described
by the prosecution does not fit in. The High Court noted if the accused was
-f ·,harassing PW-3 and the deceased was asked to accompany her, it is highly
improbable that mother of the deceased would like the deceased to go with
the accused. So far as the evidence of PW-4 is concerned it was noted that
he had not stated before the Investigating Officer that the deceased was E,
being carried by the accused at bicycle. Accordingly the High Court directed
acquittal.

4. In support of the appeal learned counsel for the appellant-State
submitted that the motive was clearly established. The accused was having
animosity towards the family of the deceased. Merely because PW-4 had not F
~ ~ stated that during investigation the accused was carrying the deceased on
a cycle, same cannot be a ground to discard the prosecution version.

5. None appeared for the respondent in spite of service of notice.

6. There is no embargo on the appellate Court reviewing the evidence G
upon which an order of acquittal is based. Generally, the order of acquittal
r shall not be interfered with because the presumption of innocence of the
accused is further strengthened by acquittal. The golden thread which runs
-4 · through the web of administration of justice in criminal cases is that if two

H
i I

1094 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2007) 7 l' C.R.
"

A views are possible on the evidence adduced in the case. one pointing to the
guilt of the accused and the other to his innocence. the view which is
favourable to the accused should be adopted. The paramount consideration
oft~e Court is to ensure that miscarriage of justice is prevented. A miscarriage
of justic.e which may arise from acquittal of the guilty is no less than from
B the conviction of an innocent. In a case where admissible evidence is ignored,
a duty is cast upon the appellate Court to re-appreciate the evidence where
the acc_used has been acquitted, for the purpose of ascertaining as to whether
any of the accused really committed any offence or not. [See Bhagwan Singh
and Ors. v. State of Madhya Pradesh, (2002) 2 Supreme 567). The principle
to be followed by appellate Court considering the appeal against the judgment
C of acquittal is to interfere only when there are compelling and substantial
reasons for doing so. If the impugned judgment is clearly unreasonable and
relevant and convincing materials have been unjusti:fiabiy eliminated in the
process, it is a compelling reason for interference. These aspects were
highlighted by this Court in Sh.ivaji Sahabrao Bobade and Anr. v. State of
Maharashtra, AIR (1973) SC 2622, Ramesh Babula! Doshi v. State of Gujarat,
D·' (1996) 4 Supreme 167, Jaswant Singh v. State of Haryana, (2000) 3 Supreme
320, Raj Kishore Jha v. State of Bihar and Ors., (2003) 7 Supreme 152, State
of Punjab v. Karnail Singh, (2003) 5 Supreme 508 and State of Punjab v.
Pohla Singh and Anr., (2003) 7 Supreme 17).

E 7. In the instant case the scenario presented by the prosecution does
not appear to be natural. Prosecution case for establishing motive was that
the accused was harassing PW-3 and had been rebuked for that. It was also
stated that on several occasions accused wanted to sexually assault PW-8
and to ensure that she is not left alone, the deceased was asked to accompany
her. In this background it is improbable and unnatural as rightly held by the
F High Court that PW-3 would permit deceased to go with the accused and
would not take any precaution when she claimed to have seen the dPceased
in the company of the accused. Evidence of PW-4 is also not acceptable. His
version in Court was that the accused was carrying the deceased on a bicycle.
He did not say so during investigation.

G 8. In view of the nature of the evidence tendered by the prosec•1tion,
the High Court was right in directing acquittal of the respondent. We find no
merit in this appeal which is accordingly dismissed. Bail bonds executed for
being released OP- bail, stand discharged.

H B.B.B. Appeal dismissed.