Holding

When the evidence on record admits two reasonable conclusions, the appellate court must accept the view favouring the accused, and the High Court’s acquittal stands.

Summary

The State of Uttar Pradesh prosecuted Nandu Vishwakarma and others for the murder of Dangar Yadav and injuries to two witnesses arising out of a land‑related dispute. The trial court convicted them under Section 302 read with Section 34 and Section 367 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The Allahabad High Court acquitted the accused, finding numerous contradictions in the witnesses’ statements, deficiencies in the FIR, and lack of medical evidence of weapon injuries, and held that the evidence allowed a plausible view in favour of the accused. On appeal, the Supreme Court examined whether an appellate court may disturb an acquittal when the evidence supports two reasonable conclusions. Relying on the principle that, in such a situation, the view favouring the accused must be accepted, the Court upheld the High Court’s acquittal. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed.

Issues considered

Whether an appellate court can set aside an acquittal when the evidence permits two reasonable conclusions, one favouring the accused and one against.
Whether the contradictions in witness testimonies and deficiencies in the FIR justify acquittal under Sections 302, 34 and 367, 34 IPC.
Interpretation of joint liability under Section 34 in conjunction with Sections 302 and 367 of the IPC.

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 302, s. 34, s. 367

Subjects

acquittalappellate reviewreasonable doubtcontradictory evidencejoint liabilityIPC 302IPC 367Section 34criminal lawevidence evaluation

Judgment

.
J
v
. [2009] 10 S.C.R. 185

- STATE OF U.P.
v.
NANDU VISHWAKARMA & ORS.
(Criminal Appeal No. 786 of 2001)
A

JULY 6, 2009
B
[DR. MUKUNDAKAM SHARMA AND DR. B.S.
CHAUHAN, JJ.]

Penal Code, 1860 - s.302 rlw s.34 and s.367 rlw s.34 -
".,
Armed assault resulting in death of one person and injuries c

- . to two persons - Conviction of accused-respondents by trial
Court - Set aside by High Court - On appeal, held: The
number of contradictions, referred to by High Court in its
judgment, in respect of all the witnesses definitely make out
a case of plausible view - Moreover, the High Court gave D
detailed reasons for disbelieving the prosecution case and for
acquitting the respondents - When on basis of evidence on
record, two views could be taken, one in favour of accused and
the other <~gainst the accused, the one favouring the accused
should always be accepted - On facts, there were two po~sible E
views, one taken by trial court and the other taken by High
Court - View taken by High Court being a plausible view, no
ground to interfere with the order of acquittal passed by High
i
Court - Appeal - Appeal against acquittal - Scope for
Interference. F
'
Acco.rding to the prosecution, the respondents
assaulted PW1's brother with various weapons such as
gandasa, lathi and spear and when PW1 and his wife,
PW2, tried to save him, they too were assaulted and that
consequent to the said assault, PW1's brother died while G
.., .j
PW1 and PW2 sustained injuries. The trial court
convicted the respondents under s.302 rlw s.34 IPC and
under s.367 rlw s.34 IPC. The High Court, however,

- disbelieved the prosecution case and acquitted the
185 H
186 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 10 S.C.R.
}

A respondents. Henc~ the present appeal.

-
0

Dismissing the appeal, the Court

HELD: 1.1. PW-1 and PW-2 stated that they were
assaulted by the respondents with lathi and Gandasa.
B The said fact is, however, not mentioned in the FIR. [Para
12] [192-B-C]

1.2. PW-1 had two plots in the village where the
incident took place. There is no mention in the FIR to
c indicate in which of the two plots the alleged incident had
taken place. What is mentioned in the FIR is that the
incident had taken place at the disputed land. The
Investigating Officer also could not enlighten and state
and clarify in his deposition in which of the two plots the
D incident had actually taken place. [Para 13] [192-E-G]
1.3. Why PW-2 was not brought to the hospital along
with PW1's brother and why the Investigating Officer did
not take any step to get PW-2 admitted to the hospital has
not been explained at all in his statement although he had
E stated that he visited the place of occurrence. No thumb
impression of PW1 was obtained on the FIR or in the
Entry made at the time of the registration of the case. In
view of the aforesaid position, the High Court came to the
finding that the FIR of the case was transcribed on the
F next date, that is, after the Investigation Officer visited the
site and not at the time when the prosecution alleged to
have done. [Para 14] [192-G-H; 193-A-C]

1.4. Evidence of PW-2 was not accepted by the High
G
Court for various reasons. One of the grounds on which
her statement was not accepted was that she made
contradictory statement in the trial inasmuch as she had ~ ....
stated at one stage that the Investigating Officer stayed
at the spot of occurrence for two hours after fall of
H -
; ' STATE OF U.P. v. NANDU VISHWAKARMA & ORS. 187

darkness and then again stated that he stayed there A

-
r
-L throughout the night. The aforesaid statement of PW-2 is
also contradictory to the statement made by PW-1, her
husband. There are many other vital contradictions in her
deposition which are pointed out and noted by the High
Court. [Para 15) [193-C-F] B
1.5. Similarly, the deposition of PW-3 was also not
believed by the High Court on the ground that his
statement is also full of contradictions. He had stated at
one stage in his statement that at the time of the incident,
PW-1 and PW-2 were harvesting the field and cutting the
c
crops but at the later stage he stated that deceased
..,.,, (PW1's brother) was leveling his field for collecting
harvesting crop. If PW-1 and PW-2 were harvesting the
crop they were using some instruments and doing the
same with the help of their respective instruments and, D
therefore, the evidence of PW-1 and PW-2 that they had
no weapons in their hands could be belied by the
aforesaid statement. At another stage he stated that
PW1's brother was not leveling the land. His statement
is also contradictory in respect of the alleged use of E
weapons by the three accused persons when the same
is pitted against the statements of PW-1 and PW-2 in that
regard.[Para 16) (193-F-H; 194-A]

1.6. The medical report clearly indicate that the doctor F
did not find any Gandasa injury either on the body of the
deceased or on the body of PW-1 and PW-2 who were
stated to be injured witnesses. (Para 17) (194-B]

2.1. The number of contradictions, referred to by High
Court in its judgment, in respect of all the witnesses G
..,. ~
definitely make out a case of plausible view which could
be deduced from the evidence on record. Moreover, the
High Court has given detailed reasons for disbelieving
the prosecution case and for acquitting the accused
H
188 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 10 S.C.R.

A persons. [Para 17) [194-B-C) '
2.2. When on the basis of the evidence on record two
views could be taken - one in favour of the accused and
-
•

the other against the accused - the one favouring the
accused should always be accepted. [Para 18) [194-D-E]
B
2.3. In the present case, it is also not clearly
established from the records as to who was in
possession of the property in question where the
occurrence had taken place. In view of the aforesaid
c situation and the tWo possible views taken by the courts
below - one taken by the trial court and the other taken
by the High Court - and the view taken by the High Court
being a plausible view, no ground is found to interfere
with the order of acquittal passed by the High Court.
D [Para 19) [195-E-G)
Chandrappa v. State of Karnataka (2007) 4 SCC 415,
relied on.

Case Law Reference:
E
(2001) 4 sec 415 relied on Para 18

CRIMINAL AP PELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal
No. 786 of 2001.

F From the Judgment & Order dated 24.05.2000 of the High
Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Criminal Appeal No. 2807
of 1980.

Sahdev Singh, Mukesh Verma and Chandra Prakash
Pandey for the Appellants.
G
Shree Pal Singh, Rahul Singh and Rama Rao for the ~
Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
H
STATE OF U.P. v. NANDU VISHWAKARMA & ORS. 189

DR. MUKUNDAKAM SHARMA, J. 1. This appeal is A

-
r
· directed against the judgment and order of acquittal passed by
the High Court of Allahabad whereby and whereunder the High
Court acquitted Nandu Vishwakarma, Kalu and Lalloo from the
charges under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code (hereinafter
referred to as 'the IPC') read with Section 34 and also under B
Section 367 read with Section 34 IPC.

2. Before dealing with the rival contentions raised on
"
behalf of the parties and in order to appreciate the said
i
contentions it would be necessary to state a few facts leading
to the registration of the aforesaid criminal case.
c
....__ 3. Dangar Yadav, who is the elder brother Of.&formant PW-
1 (Prithivi Pal), and Gujrati Devi (PW-2), wife ofthe i]1formant
are residents of village Samraha, Police Station Karchana. The
~ respondents who are accused in the present case are D
residents of another village namely village Dubawal, Police
Station Sarai lnayat. There is no dispute with regard to the fact
that both the informant side as also the accused are involved
in litigation pertaining to some plots of land in Kachhar villa~
of Leelapur which is a separate village than the village in whic E
the informant party reside and also from the village where the
accused party reside.

~ 4. There was anincident of mutual assault (marpit) on 26th
February, 1979 at about 12.00 O' clock. It is alleged in the first
F
information report (for short 'the FIR') that the informant Prithivi
Pal (PW-1) and his wife Gujrati Devi (PW-2) were engaged in
harvesting their crops in village Kachhar. Around noon, the three
alleged accused persons namely Nandu Vishwakarma, Kalu
and Lalloo armed with Gandasa, lathi and spear respectively
reached the scene of occurrence and started assaulting G
~
~ Dangar Yadav. Dangar Yadav raised an alarm whereupon the
two witnesses namely Prithivi Pal (PW-1) and his wife, Gujrati
Devi (PW-2), who were present in the vicinity tried to save him
-.. but in the process they were also assaulted by the aforesaid
H
190 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 10 S.C.R.

A accused persons.

5. Consequent to the said assault caused by the aforesaid
three accused persons, Dangar Yadav died at the spot and
Gujrati Devi (PW-2) also fell down in the field. An oral report of
the incident was lodged at ab<.1ut 5.30 p.m. by Prithivi Pal (PW-
B
1) at Police Station Sarai lnayat. On the basis of the aforesaid
report, an FIR being Crime No. 50 of .1979 was recorded and
the investigation was started by the police. After completion of
the investigation the police submitted the charge-sheet against
the respondents herein on the basis of which charges were
c framed and they were tried. The respondents pleaded not guilty
and stated that they were falsely implicated in the said case
due to the litigation which is pending between the parties.

6. In the trial, the prosecution examined a number of
D witnesses. After completion of the trial, the learned trial court
found all the respondents guilty of the charges against them and
convicted all three of them for the offence under Section 302
read with Section 34 IPC and also under Section 367 read with
Section 34 IPC and they were sentenced to undergo life
E imprisonment for the offence under Section 302/34 IPC and for
rigorous imprisonment for five years under Section 367/34 IPC
which was to run concurrently.

7. Being aggrieved by the aforesaid judgment and order t

of conviction the respondents filed an appeal before the High
F Court of Allahabad. After hearing the appeal the High Court
passed an order on 24.05.2000 acquitting all the respondents
of the charges under Section 302/34 IPC as also under Section
367/34. While passing the order of acquittal various reasons
have been given and recorded by the High Court.
G
8. All the aforesaid grounds and the findings recorded by ~
r-

the High Court are under challenge in this appeal which has
been filed by the State. We have heard Mr. Sahdev Singh,
Public Prosecutor appearing for the State of U.P. as also Mr.
H Shree Pal Singh, Advocate appearing for the respondents.
STATE OF U.P. v. NANDU VISHWAKARMA & ORS. 191
[DR. MUKUNDAKAM SHARMA, J.]
9. The Public Prosecutor very forcefully submitted that in A
view of the clear statement of the eye-witnesses namely Prithivi
Pal (PW-1) and Gujrati Devi (PW-2) in the aforesaid assault
and mutual marpit the order passed by the High Court is not
tenable on the face of it and their statement should not have
been disbelieved by the High Court. It was also submitted that B
the discrepancies which are referred to by the accused persons
are minor discrepancies which do not in any manner affect the
substratum of the prosecution case. Therefore, the said minor
discrepancies should have been ignored by the High Court. He
next submitted that because the deceased had no Gandasa c
injury on his body the same would not belie entirely the
prosecution's story particularly in view of the fact that the
witnesses have explained that though the accused persons tried
to assault Dangar with Gandasa but the same did not hit him.
He further submitted that the High Court committed a manifest
0
error of law and facts in holding that probably the occurrence
had taken place at night and that what is put forth by the
prosecution as its case is a concocted story.

10. The aforesaid submissions were strongly refuted by the
counsel appearing for the respondents. Having submitted E
before us that there is a total contradiction of medical evidence
and the ocular evidence it was also submitted that if Gujrati Devi
(PW-2) was injured in the mutual assault (marpit), she would
have been taken to the hospital and admitted thereto when the
deceased was taken to the hospital. But admittedly, she was F
admitted to the hospital only on the next day in respect of which
also there is some doubt. He further submitted that in view of
the contradictions in the statements of the witnesses, the
prosecution story was rightly disbelieved by the High Court. It
was also submitted by him that if two views are possible to be G
drawn up from the same set of facts and the view taken by the
High Court is a plausible view, in that event the said order of
acquittal should not. be interfered with.

11. We have considered the aforesaid submissions in the
H
192 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 10 S.C.R.

A light of the record of the case and proceed to analyse the same
and thereafter giving our findings and reasons thereon.

12. Prithivi Pal (PW-1) is the informant/complainant and
is the brother of Dangar Yadav, the deceased whereas Gujrati
Devi (PW-2) is the wife of PW-1. These two witnesses stated
8
that they were assaulted by the respondents with lathi and
Gandasa. The said fact is, however, not mentioned in the FIR.
The incident had taken place in the village Kachhar but neither
the informant party nor the accused are residents of the said
village. There is no dispute that there is some litigation pending
C between the parties in respect of the said land.

13. The High Court has found on appreciation of evidence
on record that the accused-respondents had won the case
against the deceased from the court of Deputy Collector
D whereas the appeal against the same was won by the
deceased. It also transpires from the record that the accused-
respondent No. 1 namely Nandu Vishwakarma had obtained
a stay in the appeal which was continuing till the date of
occurrence. The informant (PW-1) had two plots in the village
E Kachhar. There is no mention in the FIR to indicate in which of
the two plots the alleged incident had taken place. What is
mentioned in the FIR is that the incident had taken place at the
disputed land. The Investigating Officer also could not enlighten
and state and clarify in his deposition in which of the two plots
F the incident had actually taken place. It is disclosed from the
records that there is some evidence to indicate that the
accused persons are in possession of the land where the
incident had taken place.

14. The medical examination of Gujrati Devi (PW-2) was
G conducted on 27th February, 1979 at about 7.15 p.m. which is
the next morning of the incident. Why PW-2 was not brought to
the hospital along with Dangar Yadav, the deceased and why
the Investigating Officer did not take any step to get PW-2
admitted to the hospital has not been explained at all in his
H statement although he had stated that he has visited the place
STATE OF U.P. v. NANDU VISHWAKARMA & ORS. 193
[DR. MUKUNDAKAM SHARMA, J.]
of occurrence at night. It is an admitted position that Head A
Moharrir (PW-5) stated that he did not send the copy of the
checked Fl.Ron 27/28.02.1979 to the Judicial Magistrate. No
thumb impression of the informant was obtained on the FIR or
in the Entry made at the time of the registration of the case. In
view of the aforesaid position, the High Court came to the B
finding that the FIR of the case was transcribed on the next
date, that is, after the Investigation Officer visited the site and
.. not at the time wh~n the prosecution alleged to have done .

15. Evidence of Gujrati Devi (PW-2) was not accepted by
the High Court for various reasons. One of the grounds on which
c
her statement was not accepted was that she made
contradictory statement in the trial in as much as she had stated
at one stage that the Investigating Officer stayed at the spot of
occurrence for two hours after fall of darkness and then again
stated that he stayed there throughout the night. In her D
• deposition she deposed that she reached Kotwa hospital at
about 12.00 p.m. in the night but the injury report prepared by
the hospital indicates that she was medically examined in the
morning. The afores,aid statement of Gujrati Devi (PW-2) is also
contradictory to the statement made by Prithivi Pal (PW-1), her E
husband. There are many other vital contradictions in her
deposition which are pointed out and noted by the High Court.

16. Similarly, the deposition of Shiv Murat (PW-3) was also
not believed by the High Court on the ground that his statement F
is also full of contradictions. He had stated at one stage in his
statement that PW-1 and PW-2 were harvesting the field and
cutting the crops but at the later stage he stated that the
deceased was leveling his field for collecting harvesting crop.
If PW-1 and PW-2 were harvesting the crop they were using
G
some instruments and doing the same with the help of their
respective instruments and, therefore, the evidence of PW-1
J
and PW-2 that they had no weapons in their hands could be
belied by the aforesaid statement. At another stage he stated
that Dangar Yadav was not leveling the land. His statement is
H
194 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009J 10 S.C.R.

A also contradictory in respect of the alleged use of weapons by
the three accused persons when the.same is pitted against the
statements of PW-1 .and PW-2 in that regard.

17. The medical report placed before us clearly indicate
8 that the doctor did not find any Gandasa injury either on the
body of the deceased or on the body of PW-1 and PW-2 who
were stated to be injured witnesses. The number of
contradictions, which are referred to by the High Court in its
judgment, in respect of all the witnesses definitely make out a
C ca$e of plausible view which could be deduced from the
evidence on record. Moreover, the High Court has given
detailed reasons for disbelieving the prosecution case and for
acquitting the accused persons.

18. It is a settled principle of law that when on the basis of
D the evidence on record two views could be taken - one in
favour of the accused and the other against the accused - the
one favouring the accused should always be accepted. This
Court in the case of Chandrappa v. State of Kamataka,(2007)
4 sec 415, at page 432 observed as follows :
E
"42. From the above decisions, in our considered view,
the following general principles regarding powers of the
appellate court while dealing with an appeal against an
order of acquittal emerge:
F (1) An appellate court has full power to review,
reappreciate and reconsider the evidence upon which the
order of acquittal is founded.

(2) The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 puts no
G limitation, restriction or condition on exercise of such power
and an appellate court on the evidence before it may reach
its own conclusion. both on questions of fact and of law.

(3) Various expressions, such as, "substantial and
compelling reasons", "good and sufficient grounds", "very
H
STATE OF U.P. v. NANDU VISHWAKARMA & ORS. 195
[DR. MUKUNDAKAM SHARMA, J.]

strong circumstances", "distorted conclusions", "glaring A
mistakes", etc. are not intended to curta!! extensive powers
of an appellate court in an appeal against acquittal. Such
phraseologies are more in the nature of "flourishes of
language" to emphasise the reluctance of an appellate
court to interfere with acquittal than to curtail the power of B
the court to review the evidence and to come to its own
conclusion.

(4) An appellate court, however, must bear in mind that in
case of acquittal, there is double presumption in favour of C
the accused. Firstly, the presumption of innocence is
available to him under the fundamental principle of criminal
jurisprudence that every person shall be presumed to be
innocent unless he is proved guilty by a competent court
of law. Secondly, the accused having secured his acquittal,
the presumption of his innocence is further reinforced, D
reaffirmed and strengthened by the trial court. ,

(5) If two reasonable conclusions are possible on the basis
of the evidence on record, the appellate court should not
disturb the finding of acquittal recorded by the trial court." E

19. In the present case, it is also not clearly established
from the records as to who was in possession of the property..
in question where the occurrence had taken place. In view of
the aforesaid situation and the two possible views taken by the F
courts below - one taken by the trial court and the other taken
by the High Court - and the view taken by the High Court being
a plausible view, we find no ground to interfere with the order
of acquittal passed by the High Court.

20. Accordingly, this appeal has no merit and is, therefore, G
dismissed.

B.B.B. Appeal dismissed.