STATE OF MAHARASHTRA Vs. NANASAHEB BHIKAJI TAMBE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN what situations would the State be justified in presenting an appeal against an order of acquittal? Section 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, undoubtedly, confers on the State the right to direct the Public Prosecutor to prefer an appeal against acquittal, but the section does not specify as to in what circumstances this should be done. It is not a matter of discretion, but a question of duty in those cases where a trial Court in the face of unimpeachable evidence records an acquittal, where a technicality is wrongly upheld, or where the law is misapplied. Conversely, it is equally necessary to lay down guidelines circumscribing the situations in which no such appeal should be filed as the legal system, which is already overstrained, cannot tolerate the burden of frivolous or unjustified appeals. Merely because the complainant or the relatives or for that matter, the Police or the Prosecutor are unhappy over a verdict is no ground on which an order of acquittal can be assailed. The overloading of the system apart, it is essential to take cognizance of the paramount consideration, namely the injustice caused to an accused person who may be continued in custody for several years if the charge is a serious one or, even if released on bail, has to undergo the trauma and uncertainty of the pending proceeding until the disposal. We are, therefore, constrained to lay down some broad guidelines in relation to these matters. The position has become all the more necessary after hearing the present appeal.

(2.) THE three respondents before us original accused Nos. 1 to 3 before the trial Court are the father, brother and mother respectively of the deceased Bhagwan Nanasaheb Tambe, another son of the family. It was alleged that on the night of 21-8-1985 at about 8 or 8-30 p. m. , Bhagwan was assaulted by the accused and that he was strangled by means of a nylon rope, after which the dead body was flung into a canal. The record indicates that the deceased Bhagwan appears to have been a delinquent and that he was not only unemployed and a waster but that he was also given to various vices, which included excessive consumption of alcohol, addiction to charas, etc. The record also indicates that the deceased Bhagwan had lodged a complaint against his own father, accused No. 1, to the effect that the father was carrying charas; whereupon he came to be prosecuted, convicted and fined Rs. 250/ -.

(3.) IN this background, the prosecution alleges that on the fateful night, the three respondents were responsible for the death of bhagwan and in order to screen the evidence that they thereafter threw the dead body of Bhagwan in a canal. P. W. 5 Anil, who is a student, noticed the body floating in the canal some distance away on the next afternoon; whereupon he reported the matter to the police. The police took charge of the body, treated it as that of an unknown person and published a photograph in the local newspapers; whereupon persons from the village came forward and identified the body as being that of Bhagwan. The police thereafter recorded their statements and on the basis of the investigation arrested the three accused, charge-sheeted them and put them up for trial. The learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ahmednagar, on the basis of the material placed before him, came to the conclusion that neither of the two charges were established and acquitted the accused. Against this order of acquittal, the State of Maharashtra has filed the present appeal.