Supreme Court sets aside the High Court's conviction of six individuals for rioting and related offences, restoring their acquittal, as their mere presence at the crime scene amidst a large crowd was insufficient to prove membership in an unlawful assembly without evidence of specific roles or overt acts.

 Penal Code (IPC), 1860 — Sections 143, 147 and 149 — Conviction for Unlawful Assembly — Necessity of Proof Beyond Mere Presence — Mere presence at a crime scene, without evidence of an overt act or specific role, is insufficient to convict an individual as a member of an unlawful assembly, especially in cases involving large crowds and public disturbances — Supreme Court sets aside the High Court's conviction of six individuals for rioting and related offences, restoring their acquittal, as their mere presence at the crime scene amidst a large crowd was insufficient to prove membership in an unlawful assembly without evidence of specific roles or overt acts.

DHIRUBHAI BHAILALBHAI CHAUHAN AND ANOTHER

Vs.

STATE OF GUJARAT AND OTHERS

1990 Kashmir University VC Murder Case | 'TADA Procedural Safeguards Violated' : Supreme Court Dismisses CBI Appeals Against Acquittals

 

"Kartar Singh (supra) says that confession should be recorded in a free atmosphere. Recording of confessional statements in a heavily guarded BSF camp or in a JIC where the atmosphere for an accused would generally be daunting and overbearing cannot be said to be in a free atmosphere. It has come on record that the confessional statements so recorded were not accepted by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate whereafter those were sent directly to the Special Court which again is an infraction of the statute."

The Court lamented that the "the procedural safeguards were given a complete go-bye."

The Court noted that the Special Court had stopped short of observing that it was a case of abuse of power and authority, and that the procedural safeguards were completely disregarded.

The Court also added that the failure to recover the murder weapon (AK-47 rifle) seriously damaged the prosecution's case, weakening forensic evidence. The forensic witness had testified that he had not seen the AK-47 rifle from which the cartridges were fired.

The Court underlined that witnesses could not identify the accused, making their testimony unreliable. The witnesses described the kidnappers as young men with moustaches but could not identify them.

State (CBI) Vs Mohd. Salim Zargar @ Fayaz & Ors

(IPC) – S 302/34 - Murder - Common intention- HELD the evidence available on record was not looked into as the witnesses had already been exposed to the accused in the police station - After all, the test identification parade is only a part of an investigation, and therefore, nothing more can be attached to it - Acquittal

 

Recovery having not been proved in the manner known to law, coupled with inadequate evidence on record to implicate the appellant - Prosecution has failed in its attempt to prove beyond reasonable doubt, that the appellant has committed the offence

 

Corruption—Criminal Conspiracy—Accused and Co-accused were acquitted under S.120-B IPC—Co-accused was also acquitted under Corruption Act—Accused also entitled for his clean acquittal under Corruption Act.

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Murder—Identification of Accused—Specific identification of the four accused, from a group of 200- to 300 rioters, with 100% perfection; without a mention of any distinguishing marks seems highly improbable—Accused acquitted. Murder—Test Identification Parade—No reasonable explanation provided for such an inordinate delay of 55 days in conducting the TIP— Accused acquitted Murder—Gunshot Injury—Both the Post -Mortem report and the F.S.L. report are incompatible with each other with regard to exit wound and recovery of bullet—Accused acquitted. Murder—Benefit of doubt arising out of inefficient/defective investigation must be bestowed upon the accused.

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Murder--Dying Declaration—Acquittal- -Inconsistencies between dying declarations as recorded by Doctor and as recorded by Executive Magistrate (Tehsildar)--High Court acquitted accused by extending benefit of doubt—Held; when there are two reasonable views and the High Court adopted on possible view then no interference is called for in appeal

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Law on circumstantial evidence when it comes to fixing guilt on those accused in a criminal case can be summarised in the following manner. “The law can be summarised in the following terms: 1. The circumstances relied upon by the prosecution which lead to an inference to the guilt of the accused must be proved beyond doubt; 2. The circumstances should unerringly point towards the guilt of the accused; 3. The circumstances should be linked together in such a manner that the cumulative effect of the chain formed by joining the links is so complete that it leads to only one conclusion i.e. the guilt of the accused; 4. That there should be no probability of the crime having been committed by a person other than the accused.“

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Acquittal--A judgment of acquittal passed should not be interfered with when two views are possible. Benefit of doubt--When trial Court finds so many infirmities in the prosecution version then trial Court left with no choice but to give benefit of doubt to accused--Acquittal by trial Court should not be interfered with unless it is totally perverse or wholly unsustainable.

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Abetment to Suicide—Acquittal—Deceased committed suicide by consuming poison at her matrimonial home, would not itself lead to the presumption that deceased was subjected to physical-mental cruelty so as to force her to commit suicide

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Narcotics—Case Property—Safe custody and carriage of recovered contraband not proved—Acquittal upheld

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Murder--Acquittal--There is a time gap of eight hours between the time of the occurrence and the lodging of the FIR. Murder--Acquittal--Version of P.W.s that they identified the accused in moonlight--Not believed

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Murder—Death Penalty—The conduct of the convict in prison cannot be lost sight of and is a relevant mitigating factor Duty of Court—It is duty of Court to be constitutionally correct even when its view is counter-majoritarian the public opinion Murder—Death Sentence—Possibility of Reform—Probability and possibility of reform of a criminal can be done properly only through psychological/psychiatric evaluation--Media Trial-It has almost become a trend for the investigating agency to present their version and create a cloud in the collective conscience of the society regarding the crime and the criminal

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Unlawful Assembly—Sessions Judge acquitted all the six accused persons under Section 148/149 IPC-No appeal filed by the State-­High Court was not justified in convicting the appellant under Section 148/149 IPC-Appellant acquitted

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Dying declaration recorded by Magistrate have greater significance over dying declaration recorded by head constable.

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Murder—Death Sentence—Minor girl raped and murdered—Appellant had no criminal antecedents prior to commission of this crime and his post incarceration conduct suggests the possibility of his reform—Death sentence commuted to life sentence

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Murder—Appeal against Acquittal—Perversity in the judgment of the trial court has to be demonstrated by the High Court for interfering with the judgment of the trial court

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Common Intention --Unless a common intention is established as a matter of necessary inference from the proven circumstances, the accused person will be liable for their individual acts and not for the act done by any other person.Appeal against conviction--Appellant acquitted by trial Court--High Court convicted the appellant--Held, if two reasonable views are possible on the basis of the evidence on record and one favourable to the accused has been taken by the trial court, it ought not to be disturbed by appellate Court--

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Criminal Law --Murder--Circumstantial evidence--Last seen theory--Deceased last seen with accused--Held, The last-seen theory, furthermore, comes into play where the time gap between the point of time when the accused and the deceased were last seen alive and the deceased is found dead is so small that possibility of any person other than the accused being the author of the crime becomes impossible

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Criminal Trial--Fairness in investigation as also trial is a human right of an accused--State cannot suppress any vital document from the Court only because the same would support the case of accused.

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