The High Court · 2025

- "'RESPoDENT/ Accused Bandari Bojanna s/o. Gangaram , aged 42 years, Agricultural coolie, R/o.Kuchlapur Vilrri" a-"lih Mr.oil. CounselfortheAppellant:SRIADUNKUMARDODLA,ADDITIONALPUBLIC PROSECUTOR Counsel for the Respondent: SRI LAKKADI DAYAKER REDDY The Court delivered the following Judgment : 1 THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE K.SURENDER AND THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE E.V.VENUGOPAL CRIMINAL APPEAL No.2051 0F 2018 JUDGMEf{I: lper Hon'ble Si Ju-sttce Kswendet) The Str (e/appellant filed the present criminal appeal, aggrieved b] the judgment of acquittal recorde C by the learned Pr-in:ipal Sessions Judge, Adilabad, acquitting the respondenr il' the offences punishable under Secticns 302 and 3O7 of IP l

2. Heard S ri Arun Kumar Dodla, learned Additio;ra. public Prosecutor fo - the appellant/ State and Sri Lakkad. ftravaker Reddy, lealneI counsel for the respondent.

3. PW1 is both the injured witness and the cle_facto complaina.nt. Ie went to the police station and narra,_ed the incident in,rol uing an alleged attack by the accusecl cn the deceased. i-iz. Vadisela Devidas. The said complaint /Ex.p7 was registe rer I by the police. Both pW1 a'rrd the de ceased were referred rr RINS Hospital, Aditabad, for treatmr:nr . Five days after th I incident, i.e., on 01.06.2015, the Ce,:eased expired, ard a post-mortem examination was conducted on the next day, i.e., ot 02.06.2015.

4. The learned Sessions Judge, on the basis of the eyewitnesses, examined as PWs.1, 2, and 3, and the corroborating medical evidence, found that the prosecution did not make out any case against the accused. The following reasons were given by the learned Sessions Judge while acquitting the accused : (1)PWs. I and,2 stated that the accused beat the deceased ald went away. PW3 stated that there was a quarrel between the deceased and the appellart regarding repair of a fan, and the appellant beat him and went away- The medical record does not reveal that the deceased sustained injuries on his wrist or palm on 26'O5'2015' (2)The death summary of the deceased, Ex'P9, does not show that he was treated at SBR Pulse Hospital, Hyderabad, and that he was admitted on 29'O5'2015 as projected by the Prosecution. (3)The death of the deceased was on 01.O6 2015 ald it was due to cardioresPiratory arrest. (4)The medical record produced by the prosecution does not reflect as to when the deceased received injuries' (5)There is no record of PW1 receiving injuries on

26.Os.20t5. (6)Though Mos.1 to 3 were seized at the instance of the ' 'appeiant, however, they were not sent to FSL; as such, the seizure has no consequence. (7) Th.e sli rs attached to MOs.l to 3, allegedly seize d at the instanr e of the accused, do not contain the sif;nertures of the ind:pendent witness/PW8, and hence, the sr:izure of materir I objects becomes doubtful. (B) PW1l, the doctor who treated pW1, statec that the injurier lound on PWI were also possible if he fell on the CC roa I and there is only one laceratiori injur1,.

5. Learner I Public Prosecutor, on beha,lf of ..ht State, submits r}-.at I)Ws.1 to 4 are the eyewitnesses to th() i. rcident. A1l of therrr h lre collectively narrated that the accus,:d u,ent to the house o1 ihe deceased, and asked him to rerpair a fan. There, ar altercation occurred, and during the said altercatio n. rhe accused assaulted the decease,l with his hands. The s aid evidence cannot be thrown au,ay only for the reason that tl Lt:re is no medical evidence.

6. Thar be ng the case, it is pertinent to menti,in herein that in the. c: r;e of Ravi Sharma v. State (Governmrent of NCT of Delhil and anotherl, the Hon,ble Supreme C ourt held that while de r.ing with an appeal against the ac<1..itt al, the appellate Cou t has to consider whether the trial Corrrl ,s view can be lr:r'mr,<[ as a possible one, particuiarly vzhr.:n the '12022t1r Su r,rme Court Cases 536 evidence on record has been alalysed. The reason is that al order of acquittal adds up to the presumption of innocence in favour of the accused. Thus, the appellate court has to be relatively slow in reversing the order of the trial court rendering acquittal.

7. Further, in Ghureg Lal u. Stqte of Uttar Pradesh,2 the Hon'ble Supreme Court, after referring to several Judgments regarding the settled principles of law and the powers of appellate Court in reversing the order of acquittal, held at paraTo as follows: "7O. In the light of the aboue, the High Court and other appellate Courts slrould follou-t the u'tell-settled principles crystollized bg number of Judgments if iI is going to oierntle or otheruti,se di.sturb the trial court's acquittal:

1. The appellate court may onlg ouenule or otheruti-se disturb the tiol court's ocquittat if it hrrs "uery substantial and compelling reasorts" for doing so. A number of instances orise in uhich the appellate court utould houe 'uery substantial and compelLing reasons' to di.scard the tial court's decision. 'Very substantial and compelling reasorts" exist uhen: - i) The trial court's conclusion tuith regard to the facts is palpablg urong: tial court's decision uas based on an it1 fn iii) The trial court's judgment is likelg to result in erroneou.s uiew of lnw; 'graue miscarriage of justice"; ' i200E1 10 sup."-e Court Cases 450 iu) i he entire approach of the tial court tn deol ng u,tith the e-t,idt r ce u)as patently illegal; 1t) the tial court's judgment ua-s, manifestlL unjust and unr( c sonable; ti)1he triaL court hc.s ignored the euidence or ,ni:;read. the matt r;.at eui.dence or has tgnored mateial dotun tents like <li1in 1 declarations/ report of the bollistb Ex. pe n , erc. L'IL) This li-st i-s intended to be illttstrat,t)e not exha.u Sti )(.. 2'. 'I te appellate court must alwaAs giue prope: utrzight and c(.,n: tderation o the findings of the trinl court. 3 IJ tLuo reasonable uieu.ls can be reached, cne tltat leod.s to acquittal, the otler to conuiction ]n, *gn Courts/ a c2elLate courts must rule in fat,our of ihe accused

8. The ar, Srment of the learned public prosecu.or cannot sustain. Wl en it is the speci{ic case of the prosecution that the deceased -eceived injuries on his wrist, a bleecinrl injury on his throar , and was treated in a hospital, the p -osecution ought to har e produced the medical record to subs.:antiate that the dt,ce ased received those injuries. Further, the death of the deceas:l was not on account of aly injuries that were received b1'h rr but due to cardiorespiratory arrest. TIle post_ mortem doct r-, in Ex.p9/death summary, had spe:ifically stated that th: cause of death was cardiorespiratory arl.est.

9. The pro secution, to prove its case against Err accused for the offenc: of murder, must invariably establist tl:rat the death was hornicidal. In the present case, the prosec:tion has \ \ utterly failed to prove that the death of the deceased was homicidal. It is the specific case of the prosecution witnesses that the death was on account of cardiorespiratory arrest. The non-production of medical records, though available with the prosecution, is fatal to its case. Under. Section 114(9) of the Indian Evidence Act, if the evidence is available and not produced, an inference can be drawn that had such evidence been produced, it would have gone against the person who withheld such evidence.

10. For the aforesaid reasons, we are of the opinion that there are no compelling reasons or grounds warranting interference by this Court with the finding of acquittal of the respondent recorded by the trial Court. Accordingly, the appeal fails. 1 1. In the result, the criminal appeal is dismissed. //TRUE COPYII SD/- K. SRINIVASA RAO JOINT REGISTRAR /, )/''' ' SECT16I(0FFICER To, '1. The Principal Sessions Judge at Adilabad. 2. The Judicial First Class Magistrate, Boath, Adilabad District 3. The Station House Officer , Boath Police Station, Adilabad District. 4. Two CCs to Pubtic Prosecutor, High Court.for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad.(OUT) 5 One CC to SRl. LAKKADI DAYAKER REDDYAdvocate [OPUC] 6. Two CD Copies l,tl l^\ --*-:.=-ft----**4.--.lE. HIGH COURT DATED:0110412025 -i '.1_ o ..1 a r)- ,./ ! jr-t + JUDGMENT Crl. Appeal .No.205' of 2018 Dismissing the Crl.,A.pp, al g 4t ,