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H.D. Sundara & Ors. vs. State of Karnataka

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 858Decided 26 Sept 2023
Criminal Appeal No. 247 of 2011
Abhay S. Oka · Sanjay Karol

Background

The appellants (eight relatives from one family) were tried for the deaths of two brothers, Manjunatha and Shivarama, arising out of a long-running property/water dispute between their families in a Karnataka village. The prosecution alleged the appellants attacked the two victims with sticks, a sickle, and stones. The Trial Court acquitted all the accused, but the High Court, hearing the State's appeal, reversed the acquittal and convicted them under Section 304 Part I (culpable homicide) and Section 324 read with Section 149 IPC (rioting with weapons), sentencing them to seven years' rigorous imprisonment. Two of the appellants died during the appeal proceedings, and their names were removed from the case.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court reiterated the settled principle that an appellate court can reverse an acquittal only if it concludes that the trial court's view was not a "possible" one on the evidence: mere disagreement on reappreciation of evidence is not enough. It found the High Court's judgment contained no real discussion of the eyewitnesses' testimony, no findings on which accused caused which injury, and no explanation of how the collective-liability provision (Section 149 IPC) applied. The Court also noted the Trial Court had flagged an unexplained grievous injury on one accused, and inconsistencies in the FIR timing, as serious gaps in the prosecution's case. Concluding that the Trial Court's acquittal was a plausible view supported by evidence, the Supreme Court restored the acquittal and ordered the appellants released.

Lesson Learnt

An appellate court overturning a criminal acquittal must engage seriously with the trial evidence and explain, with specific reasons, why the trial court's view was impossible or perverse: a bare, unreasoned reversal of an acquittal cannot stand, and the presumption of innocence strengthened by an acquittal is not lightly displaced.

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

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