LAWRENCE KANNANDAS Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Order to conviction and sentence of the present appellant (who will be referred to hereafter as the accused) under sections 363, 366 and 376 of the Indian Panel Code is the subject-matter of the challenge in this appeal by the accused.

(2.) Since I find no other alternative but to allow the appeal and to pass an order of acquittal, it is necessary for me to state the case of the prosecution and the state of the evidence led by it in some details.

(3.) I will first state the prosecution case which has been accepted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Pune. I will thereafter refer to the nature of the evidence led by the prosecution and thereafter I will indicate the part of the prosecution story which can be said to have been established beyond any doubt. This would facilitate the appreciation of the conclusion that any Court must arrive at, namely, that the prosecution has miserably failed to establish any of the material facts which it must prove before it can make a legitimate claim for conviction of the accused of any of the offences with which he was charged before the learned Judge.