KRISHNA ALIAS CHANDRAKANTH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) i) In a criminal case resting entirely on circumstantial evidence, is the prosecution bound to prove the circumstances beyond doubt

(2.) Sri. Blaze points out the scholarly opinion (with which he respectfully disagrees) of Hon'ble Justice U.L. Bhatt*, the former Acting Chief Justice of this Court, former Chief Justice of the Guwahati and Madhya Pradesh High Courts, Honorary Professor of the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal and a great jurist of our times on the manner in which M.G. Agarwal is to be understood and applied. He submits that-in the light of such opinion, the position deserves to be clarified. We found the questions to be interesting. We solicited assistance from the Bar. Whoever was willing to contribute to the thought on the subject in the course of the discussions at the Bar was given an opportunity to be heard. We place on record our appreciation for the competent assistance from the members of the Bar including senior advocates Sri. M.K. Damodaran, B. Raman Pillai, S. Sreekumar, P. Vijaya Bhanu and Director General of Prosecution Sri Asif Ali. We do particularly record our appreciation and gratitude for the inspired assistance and research support that we received from two counsel - Advocate S. Rajeev, who canvassed the view in favour of the indictee and Advocate Sri Bechu Kurian Thomas, who canvassed the view in favour of the prosecution. The sense of dedication, commitment and interest shown by these two young counsel and the amount of time that they devoted deserve special mention. They led the arguments and consolidated the arguments of others who support their view. In the course of the discussions we shall refer to their names only while adverting to the arguments canvassed in support of the respective positions.

(3.) We shall deal with the questions of law raised above initially. Thereafter we shall proceed to consider the specific facts and the controversies raised in this appeal.