The State Of Chhattisgarh, Through District Magistrate Korba Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh v. 1 - Hemsingh Kanwar S/o Kunjram Kanwar, Aged About 33 Years R/o Village Tonda
Case Details
1 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 2025:CGHC:28978-DB NAFR AMARDEEP CHOUBEY Digitally signed by AMARDEEP CHOUBEY Date: 2025.07.01 17:21:53 +0530 HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR ACQA No. 4 of 2018 The State Of Chhattisgarh, Through District Magistrate Korba Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh ... Appellant (s) versus 1 - Hemsingh Kanwar S/o Kunjram Kanwar, Aged About 33 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , Chhattisgarh 2 - Pawan Singh, S/o Sukhauram, Aged About 47 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 3 - Anand Kumar Kanwar, S/o Tilram Kanwar, Aged About 28 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 4 - Arvind Pal Gadariya, S/o Ramdular Pal, Aged About 38 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 5 - Sukhdev Singh S/o Mohan Singh Aged About 28 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 2 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 6 - Narmada Prasad Kanwar, S/o Mohan Singh Kanwar Aged About 30 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh
Legal Reasoning
7 - Sammar Singh S/o Firat Ram Kanwar Aged About 43 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh
Legal Reasoning
8 - Smt. Pooja Bai Kanwar W/o Hemsingh Kanwar Aged About 30 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 9 - Smt. Ratri Bai W/o Mohar Singh Kanwar Aged About 40 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 10 - Smt. Kamla Bai W/o Tilram Kanwar Aged About 55 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 11 - Til Ram Kanwar, S/o Sukhru Ram Kanwar Aged About 56 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 12 - Mohar Singh Kanwar, S/o Late Kunjram Kanwar Aged About 51 Years R/o Village Tonda, Police Station Urga, District Korba Chhattisgarh , District : Korba, Chhattisgarh ... Respondent(s) For State For Respondent Nos.1 to12 : Mr. Samir Singh, Advocate : Mr. Malay Jain, Panel Lawyer 3 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 ACQA No. 17 of 2017 Umashankar Patel S/o Thandaram Patel Aged About 48 Years Occupation- Agricultural , R/o Village Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District Korba, Chhattisgarh., Chhattisgarh ---Appellant(s) Versus 1 - Hemsingh Kanwar S/o Kunjram Kanwar, Aged About 33 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., Chhattisgarh 2 - Pawan Singh S/o Sukhauram Aged About 47 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 3 - Anand Kumar Kanwar S/o Tilram Kanwar Aged About 28 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 4 - Arvind Pal Gadariya S/o Ramdular Pal Aged About 38 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 5 - Sukhdev Singh S/o Mohan Singh Aged About 28 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 6 - Narmada Prasad Kanwar S/o Mohar Singh Kanwar Aged About 30 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 4 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 7 - Sammar Singh S/o Firat Ram Kanwar Aged About 43 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 8 - Smt. Pooja Bai Kanwar W/o Hemsingh Kanwar Aged About 30 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 9 - Smt. Ratri Bai W/o Mohar Singh Aged About 40 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 10 - Smt. Kamla Bai W/o Tilram Kanwar Aged About 55 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 11 - Til Ram Kanwar S/o Sukharu Ram Kanwar Aged About 56 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 12 - Mohar Singh Kanwar S/o Late Kunjram Kanwar Aged About 51 Years R/o Village- Tonda, Police Station- Urga, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 13 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through District Magistrate Korba, District Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh (Cause-title taken from Case Information System) Respondents For Appellant For Respondent Nos.1 to12 : Mr. Samir Singh, Advocate : Mr. Awadh Tripathi, Advocate For State : Mr. Malay Jain, Panel Lawyer 5 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Bibhu Datta Guru , Judge Per Ramesh Sinha , Chief Justice Judgment on Board 30.06.2025 ACQA No.17/2017 1. At the very outset, learned counsel for the appellant submits that the matter has already been compromised between the parties, hence, he does not want to press this appeal. 2. In view of above submission, the present appeal (ACQA No.17 of 2017) is dismissed as not pressed. ACQA No.4/2018 1. This acquittal appeal under Section 378(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure is directed against the judgment of acquittal dated 09/05/2016 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Korba, District Korba C.G. in Sessions Case No.45/2011, whereby the learned Sessions Judge has acquitted the respondents herein from all the charges framed against them. 2. On 31/01/2011 at 7.30 am Umashankar Patel was going to see his farm. When he reached near Hiralal Patel's house, the accused in this case came from front with knives, axes, sticks and stopped him and started talking about the transaction of loan amount. They abused him badly and threatened to kill him. They tied his leg with a rope and beat him. Due to the beating Umashankar got injured in his right hand, head, stomach and waist. Seeing the fight Upendra Kumar, Dayaram 6 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 Yadav, Suraj Yadav, Ramayan Chauhan intervened. Thereafter, Umashankar came to Urga police station and lodged complaint against the accused persons. After registering his complaint Umashankar was sent to district hospital Korba for medical examination and the case was investigated. During the investigation, one nylon rope was seized from accused Puja Kanwar, one knife from Pawan Singh, iron tangiya from Hem Singh and one stick each from accused Narmada, Mohar Singh and Tilakram. The seized tangiya, knife and stick were sent to the doctor of District Hospital Korba and information was sought as to whether the injury sustained by Umashankar Patel was caused by the said knife, tangiya and stick and whether the injury was fatal to his life. On receipt of the report from the doctor and the treatment given to Umashankar in Government Hospital Champa, photocopies of related documents, X-ray plates etc. were collected and during the investigation statements of witnesses were taken and after that case was registered against the accused under sections 147, 148, 294, 506, 307, 323, 341 of IPC. Under the said Act, the case was prepared and the charge sheet was presented in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Korba and after surrender, the case was received by this court for due disposal on 04/07/2011. 3. After completing the investigation, a charge-sheet was filed against the respondents herein. In order to prove its case, the prosecution has examined 12 witnesses and there was no defence witness. Statements of the respondents under Section 313 of the Cr.P.C were recorded 7 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 wherein they have pleaded that they have been falsely implicated and they are innocent. 4. After appreciating the oral as well as documentary evidence, the learned trial Court vide its judgment dated 09/05/2016 acquitted the respondents/ accused herein from the charges framed against them. Hence, this appeal. 5. Learned counsel for the State submits that all the witnesses have supported the case of the prosecution and nothing had been come in their cross-examination by which it can be held that no offence is made out against respondents, but ignoring all the material against the respondents, learned trial Court passed the impugned judgment which is illegal and liable to be set-aside. 6. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents would submit that the judgment of acquittal is well merited and does not require any interference. 7. We have heard counsel for the parties and perused the judgment passed by the trial Court with utmost circumspection. 8. PW-4, Umashankar stated that on 31.01.2011 in village Tonda at around 7:30 in the morning, when he was going to toilet near pond, the accused surrounded him from all sides and started beating him by means of sticks, tangis and knives. Accused Pawan Singh hit him in the stomach with a knife, accused Hem Singh hit him in the leg and back with a tangis, accused Arvind hit him with a stick, accused Tilakram hit him with a torn piece of wood, the rest of the accused beat 8 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 him with sticks. Due to the assault, he suffered injuries on his head, stomach, right leg and back and both the ribs of his chest were fractured. During the assault when he tried to defend him, the accused Hemsingh, Tilakram, Pawan etc tied his hands and legs with rope. Thereafter Laxman, Ramayan Chauhan, Suraj Yadav, Chhatram Yadav, Brijbhushan Patel came took him to his house. Ramayan, Laxman and his brother Brijbhushan etc. took me to Urga police station. Then the police took him to Korba district hospital for treatment and the doctor said him that treatment is not possible at Korba district hospital, then I was put on a bottle and taken to Champa district hospital. He was admitted there for four months. 9. PW-5 Brijbhushan Patel, stated in his evidence that on 31/1/2011 at about 7.50 a.m. Upendra came to his house to call him and said that ten to twelve people were beating Umashankar. He reached the scene of the incident and saw that the accused were beating Umashankar with sticks, lathis, knives and sickles and had tied both his legs with a nylon rope, which was of white nylon. After his arrival, Ramayan, Chhatram, Suraj and Upendra came and intervened. When the accused beat Umashankar and he fell unconscious, the accused left Umashankar and went away from the scene of the incident. These people brought Umashankar back to consciousness by sprinkling water on him and arranged for a vehicle from the scene of the incident and took him to Urga police station, where he lodged a report. Umashankar was not in a condition to speak. The police took Umashankar to the 9 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 hospital, on the way Umashankar fell unconscious. He was taken to the district hospital in Korba and after treatment, the deceased was referred to Hospital, Champa. 10. PW-6 Ramayan Prasad has stated that on the date of incident he had gone to Thakurdaya pond in the morning to take bath and was returning after taking bath at 7.00 am. When he reached near Mahadev temple, he saw that accused were beating Umashankar Patel in front of Hiralal's house. Upendra and Suraj went to save Umashankar, then the accused threatened to kill them. On hearing the threat, he did not go near the place of incident. The accused were carrying sticks, rods, tangi, knives. He saw Umashankar being beaten with sticks. Umashankar had injuries on his head, neck, stomach and right side of his leg. Umashankar became unconscious due to the beating. Then the accused left thinking that Umashankar was dead. After the accused left, he went to the place of incident. Five minutes after his arrival, Umashankar's family members came and picked up Umashankar and took him home. At that time Umashankar was conscious. Then Umashankar was brought to Urga police station in a jeep for a report. The police did not write his report and sent him for treatment. They came to Korba Superintendent of Police's office. The Superintendent of Police was busy there. Umashankar again fainted. Then he was taken to Korba District Hospital and after getting him discharged, he was taken to Champa Hospital for treatment. 11. PW-8, Basanti Bai, stated in her evidence that she was in her house in village Tonda. There was a commotion in front of her house, thereafter, 10 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 she came out after hearing the noise and quarrel. She saw that Umashankar was shouting for help. Ten-twelve people had surrounded him. She does not know them who were surrounded Umashankar. After seeing the incident, she came back inside her house. In that crowd, there were three women. She did not tell anything about the incident to the police. In her cross-examination, she stated that she does not see the incident by which, Umashankar was assaulted by the respondents. 12. On the date of the incident, Umashankar was discharged from the district hospital after treatment. Thereafter on 6th February 2011, Umashankar was admitted for treatment in BDM Hospital Champa. Doctor Manish Srivastava has stated that he admitted Umashankar for treatment on the referral of GK Nayak, but during the investigation, no inquiry was made from the doctor named GK Nayak to find out whether Umashankar was actually treated in any of his hospitals between 31/01/2011 and 6/02/2011. 13. From bare perusal of above evidence, Umashankar's statement about the incident is contradictory to the statement of his brother Brijbhushan and prosecution witnesses Ramayan Prasad. These witnesses have not given statements supporting the prosecution's case, rather they have contradicted it. Even after being declared hostile, these witnesses have not supported the incident. Rather, PW-8, Basanti Bai, in her cross- examination, stated that she had not seen the incident, in which, Umashankar was assaulted by respondents. 11 ACQA Nos.4 of 2018 & 17 of 2017 14. It is a well settled law that an order of acquittal is to interfere only when there are compelling and substantial reasons for doing so. If the impugned judgment is clearly unreasonable, it is a compelling reason for interference. It is also pertinent to mention here that when the Trial Court has ignored the evidence or misread the evidence, the oral as well as documentary evidence, then the Appellate Court has right to reverse the decision of the trial Court. In absence of compelling and substantial reasons for doing so, if there are two possible or plausible reasons found from the record, the Appellate Court always should accept the decision of the trial court. 15. Even otherwise, it is the trite law that when two views are possible in the case and the trial Court has taken one of the views, the judgment of acquittal should not be converted into a judgment of conviction. {See : State of M.P. v. Bachhudas alias Balram and others (2007) 9 SCC 135}. 16. In this view of the matter, the judgment of acquittal rendered by the trial Court cannot be set aside for convicting the respondents/accused. 17. As a sequel, the present appeal (ACQA No.4 of 2018) deserves to be and is hereby dismissed. SD/- SD/- (Bibhu Datta Guru) (Ramesh Sinha) Judge Chief Justice Rahul/Amardeep