CHINNA PILLAI Vs. VAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AFTER hearing the learned counsel for the appellant, I have gone through the judgment of acquittal rendered by the learned Special judicial Magistrate, Palacode , Dharmapur i District in C. C. No. 6 of 1995, dated 13. 12. 1995, by which the respondents/accused were charged for the offence punishable under Sec s. 147, 341 and 323 of Indian Penal Code and tried, after recording the evidence of four witnesses on behalf of the prosecution and after marking the document produced by the petitioner. No material objects were marked. AFTER hearing the defence , the learned special Judicial Magistrate, Palacode , acquitted all the accused/respondents of all the charges framed against them, as the prosecution has not proved the guilt of the accused beyond any reasonable doubt, by rendering the impugned judgment. Aggrieved by this Judgment, the present criminal appeal has been preferred.

(2.) IT was the contention of the Bar on behalf of the appellant that the respondents/accused trespassed into the land of P. W. 1 , the appellant herein, cut the trees and caused damage to the property. They also caused as many as four injuries upon the person of P. W. 1, the appellant herein by beating him with stone and hands, as is evident from the medical certificate. The Doctor opined that all the injuries were simple in nature and out of the four injuries, three were external injuries and injury No. 1 was only a small abrasion. If more than ten accused joined together and their object was to attack P. W. 1 for any moment with lethal weapons in their hands one can expect very serious injuries, rather than the injuries found in the medical certificate, produced in the instant case. The very contention that the respondents/accused have dropped their lethal weapons on the spot and indulged in committing violence against P. W. 1 cannot at all be believed for its unnaturalness and propriety. All the more, more than eight grounds of vital aspects which go the root of the case, as pointed out by learned Special judicial Magistrate, Palacode would clinchingly prove that the case of the appellant is coined with total laches , which creates an overwhelming doubt about the prosecution theory. IT is settled law that if there is any doubt in the prosecution version which is based upon the legal evidence adduced, a part of the prosecution case alone cannot be segregated for the purpose of rendering the conviction against the real culprits which itself is in heavy stake.