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Fedrick Cutinha vs. State of Karnataka

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 384Decided 18 Apr 2023
Criminal Appeal No. 2265 of 2010
V. Ramasubramanian · Pankaj Mithal

Background

On a polling day in 1999 in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, a group of eight men arrived by autorickshaw and attacked a rival group of five near a shop, arising out of a property dispute between two brothers in the two factions. One victim died of stab wounds and others were injured. The trial court acquitted all eleven accused, finding the prosecution's witnesses unreliable and the only independent witness having turned hostile. The High Court affirmed the acquittal for nine accused but reversed it for two, Krishnappa Naika (A1) and Fedrick Cutinha (A3), convicting them based solely on the testimony of one witness, sentencing them to life imprisonment and five years' rigorous imprisonment respectively.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that an appellate court reversing an acquittal must respect the "double presumption of innocence" that attaches once a trial court has acquitted an accused, and can only interfere where the trial court's view was perverse, which the High Court had not found here. The High Court gave no good reasons for departing from the trial court's assessment of the evidence, and had convicted based on a single witness's testimony despite finding most other witnesses unreliable. The Court also noted that Fedrick Cutinha's own role (kicking, hitting with a rod, throwing chili powder) did not implicate him in the killing itself, and separately that the High Court failed to give the accused a hearing on sentence before imposing life imprisonment, as required by Section 235(2) CrPC. The convictions of A1 and A3 were set aside and the appeals allowed.

Lesson Learnt

An appellate court cannot casually overturn a trial court's acquittal. It must show the trial court's reasoning was perverse, and it must also give a convicted person a separate hearing on sentence before imposing punishment, even at the appellate stage.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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