Allahabad High Court Allows Appeal Of Murder Convict After 40 Yrs, Sets Aside Conviction

The Allahabad High Court, sitting in Lucknow, has allowed the appeal of a Murder convict after 40 years, setting aside the order passed by Sessions Court and directing the jail authorities to set him at liberty forthwith.The criminal appeal filed in 1982 by Ringu Pasi, convicted by the Additional Sessions Judge, Unnao for offences under Section 302 (Murder) read with Section 34 and Section 404 (Dishonest misappropriation of property) IPC, came to be decided by a bench comprising of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Vivek Varma on Tuesday, February 22, 2022.The Bench opined that the prosecution had failed to lead cogent, truthful and credible evidence before the Court to establish the guilt of the appellants beyond reasonable doubt."In the instant case, the distance between 'may be true' and 'must be true' has not been covered by the prosecution by adducing legal, reliable and unimpeachable evidence...we are squarely satisfied that the instant is a fit case in which the appellant no.2-Ringu Pasi deserves the benefit of doubt." There were 11 accused before the Sessions Court. It acquitted 9 accused and convicted the present two appellants (Babu Pasi and Ringu Pasi) for the charges mentioned above.During pendency of the appeal, Babu Pasi died in the year 2015. Hence, the present appeal was decided only qua Ringu Pasi. In the facts of the case, the counsel for the Appellant argued that the voluminous FIR lodged against the accused was filed after much consultation and deliberation. The counsel also argued that non-examination of a material witness by the prosecution is fatal for this case. It was further contended that given the prior enmity between the deceased and family members of the accused persons, probability of false implication cannot be ruled out. The State on the other hand supported the judgement of the Trial Court and submitted that since there was no delay in lodging of FIR, the chances of the groundless allegation are bare to a minimum. The counsel further stated that evidence of the eye-witnesses supported by other ocular and documentary evidence has been rightly examined and appreciated by the trial court. Findings The Court rejected the evidence of the three eye witnesses produced by the prosecution, stating that their testimonies do not inspire the confidence of the Court.It noted that these witnesses had also implicated 9 other co-accused persons and all of them had been clearly acquitted by the trial Court on all counts. "As stated earlier, the State of Uttar Pradesh has not challenged the acquittal of these nine acquitted persons."It further noted that there appears to be long standing enmity between the parties, hence involving the accused/appellants falsely in a criminal case such as the instant case cannot be ruled out.The Court further agreed with the submission of the Appellants regarding non-examination of two natural witnesses."They are the most natural and competent witnesses. They really could have thrown immense light on the factual score, but for the reasons best known to the prosecution, they have not been examined. It is also not the case of the prosecution that they had not been cited as their evidence would have been duplication or repetition of evidence or there was an apprehension that they would have not supported the case of the prosecution. In the absence of any explanation whatsoever, we are of the considered opinion that it has affected the case of the prosecution."The Bench relied on the Supreme Court judgement namely Sarwan Singh v. State of Punjab [1957 AIR 637] in which the court stated that –"It may be as Mr. Gopal Singh strenuously urged before us that there is an element of truth in the prosecution story against both the appellants Mr. Gopal Singh contended that, considered as a whole the prosecution story may be true; but between 'may be true' and 'must be true' there is inevitably a long distance to travel and the whole of this distance must be covered by legal, reliable and unimpeachable evidence." Applying the aforesaid proposition of law on the present set of facts, the Court was satisfied that the accused deserves the benefit of the doubt. Hence, the instant appeal was allowed, the judgement passed by the Sessions Court was set aside and the accused was acquitted from the charges leveled against him. Case Title : Babu Pasi alias Babu Lal Pasi and another v. State of U.P.Citation: Click Here To Read/Download Judgment

Allahabad High Court Allows Appeal Of Murder Convict After 40 Yrs, Sets Aside Conviction

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