New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the conviction of two people in a murder case of 2005 while observing that the “brusque approach” of the Karnataka High Court in holding them guilty cannot be sustained.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Aravind Kumar noted that a trial court had earlier delivered a “well-considered judgment” acquitting the accused in the case.
“We may point out that, once the trial court found no evidence to convict the accused, the burden was upon the high court, while reversing the said judgment, to record clear findings in relation to each of the charges and, more particularly, the charge of criminal conspiracy under section 120-B IPC (Indian Penal Code),” the bench said.
It said no such exercise was undertaken by the high court. Referring to a previous verdict delivered by the apex court, the bench said it was pointed out that it would be essential for the high court, in an appeal against acquittal, to clearly indicate firm and weighty grounds from the record for discarding the reasons of the trial court in order to be able to reach a contrary conclusion of guilt of accused.
“Viewed in this light, the brusque approach of the high court in dealing with the appeal, resulting in the conviction of appellant nos. 1 and 2, reversing the cogent and well-considered judgment of acquittal by the trial court giving them the benefit of doubt, cannot be sustained,” it said, while allowing the appeal filed by the two convicts.
The bench delivered its verdict on an appeal challenging the high court’s verdict which reversed their acquittal and held them guilty of offences including that of murder and criminal conspiracy.
It noted that the two accused, along with three others, were acquitted by a trial court in May 2006 after which the state had preferred an appeal before the high court.
According to the prosecution, the five accused had hatched a conspiracy to murder a person and they attacked him in February 2005 near a bus stand in Bangalore rural district.
The victim was rushed to a hospital but he succumbed to his injuries, the police had said.
The top court noted that the trial court had duly taken note of the discrepancies and contradictions in the depositions of some witnesses in the case and held that the prosecution had failed to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
“According to the high court, the evidence adduced by the prosecution outweighed the findings recorded by the trial court, but no reasons worth the name were recorded by the high court to support this conclusion,” the bench noted.
“On the strength of these cryptic observations, the high court deemed it fit to reverse the judgment of acquittal; hold the accused guilty of the offences as charged and sentence them to imprisonment for life,” it said, while setting aside the conviction of the two appellants on all charges. PTI ABA ABA SK SK
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