'Serious Lapses In Identification & Recovery': Calcutta High Court Dismisses State Appeal Against Acquittal In 1982 Dacoity Case

The Calcutta High Court has refused to interfere with a decades-old acquittal in a 1982 dacoity case, holding that serious lapses in identification, doubtful recovery of stolen articles, and contradictions in seizure evidence fatally weakened the prosecution case.

Justice Ananya Bandyopadhyay, while dismissing the State's appeal, observed that the prosecution failed to conclusively establish ownership and recovery of the allegedly stolen wristwatch — the only incriminating material — and that witness testimony on identification of the accused was unreliable. The Court further noted that statements purportedly recorded under Section 27 of the Evidence Act were legally inadmissible as they amounted to confessional disclosures rather than discovery of facts.

The case arose from a 31 July 1982 incident where four armed miscreants allegedly entered a government quarter at Begunkodar, threatened the occupants with weapons, and decamped with jewellery, cash and a wristwatch. After investigation, charges were framed under Sections 395 (dacoity) and 412 IPC. However, the trial court acquitted the accused in 1988, prompting the State's appeal.

During trial, several seizure witnesses turned hostile, no incriminating articles were recovered from the main accused, and the wristwatch allegedly recovered from a co-accused could not be reliably linked to the complainant. The Court noted contradictions regarding the seizure and observed that key witnesses themselves failed to identify the accused. Even the lighting conditions for identification were doubtful, as the lamp allegedly used during the incident was never produced.

Taking note of these evidentiary gaps and the passage of nearly 38 years since the incident and appeal, the Court held that no compelling ground existed to overturn the acquittal. It reiterated that interference with an acquittal requires clear perversity or miscarriage of justice, which was absent here.

Accordingly, the State's appeal was dismissed and the acquittal affirmed.

Case: The State of West Bengal -Vs- Debabrata @ Bapi Goswami and Ors

Case No: G.A. 19 of 1988

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