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The State of Maharashtra v. Shankar Ganapati Rahatol

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 119Decided 31 Jan 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 799 of 2010
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice R. Subhash Reddy

Background

Following a 1998 assault complaint, several accused were tried for offences under the IPC and the Bombay Police Act, and the Sessions Court acquitted all of them in 2005. The State sought leave to appeal that acquittal, but the Bombay High Court refused leave. The State then approached the Supreme Court, along with connected appeals arising from a cross-complaint involving the same village dispute.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the High Court's refusal of leave rested on a finding, that medical evidence showed no injury to the complainant's back or thigh, that actually ran contrary to the record, since a doctor had testified to a fractured tibia and lacerated wounds. Given this, and considering that a related cross-case arising from the same incident was still pending in appeal before the High Court, the Court held this was a fit case for granting leave to appeal. It set aside the High Court's order, allowed the State's appeal to proceed on merits, and similarly set aside a connected order rejecting the complainant's revision petition, remitting that too to the High Court; connected appeals Nos. 798 and 800 of 2010 required no separate orders in light of this disposal.

Lesson Learnt

A court refusing permission to appeal an acquittal must actually engage with the evidence on record: if its stated reason for refusing leave is factually incorrect, the higher court will step in to make sure the appeal is allowed to be argued on its merits.

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

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