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Nallabothu Ramulu v. State of Andhra Pradesh

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 1424 of 2003)Decided 22 Apr 2014
Criminal Appeal No. 1424 of 2003
Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya · Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai

Background

Two people died and several others were injured in an alleged armed attack between rival village factions. The trial court acquitted the accused after finding serious weaknesses in the investigation and witness accounts. The High Court reversed the acquittals and convicted the appellants of various assault, rioting and murder offences.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed both appeals, set aside the High Court's judgment and acquitted the appellants of all charges, discharging their bail bonds. Police had failed to preserve the earliest available accounts, while hospital documents and the later statement raised significant doubts about the incident's timing and the prosecution version. Identification problems and contradictions affected the foundation of the case, rather than merely reflecting minor memory lapses. The trial court's assessment was a reasonably possible view, and the High Court had not supplied adequate reasons for rejecting it as perverse.

Lesson Learnt

A conviction requires reliable proof, even after a serious and violent incident. When a trial court's acquittal rests on a reasonable assessment of material doubts, an appeal court cannot reverse it simply because it prefers another possible view.

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

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