SupremeToday Landscape Ad
Back
Next
Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation
Listen Audio Icon Pause Audio Icon
judgment-img

2011 Supreme(Cal) 863

High Court Of Calcutta
Kanchan Chakraborty, J.
Samiran Dey - Appellant
Vs
Swapan Dutta - Respondent
C.R.R. 718 of 2004
Decided on: July 01, 2011

Advocates Appeared:
Jyotirmoy Adhikary, Sekhar Banu, Subhasis Roy

The High Court will not interfere with an order of acquittal in a revision petition unless the trial court has committed a glaring error of law or has violated fundamental principles of law.

Headnote:

CRIMINAL REVISION - SECTION 498A, 302/34 IPC - ACQUITTAL - GROUNDS FOR REVISION - SOLE TESTIMONY OF MINOR SON - EVIDENCE OF INVESTIGATING OFFICER - FAILURE TO DISCLOSE MATERIAL FACTS - IMPROBABILITY OF PROSECUTION VERSION - NO MISDIRECTION OR VIOLATION OF PRINCIPLES OF LAW - REVISION DISMISSED.

Fact of the Case:

The deceased, Kalpana, died due to severe burn injuries in her matrimonial home. The prosecution alleged that the accused, her in-laws, caused her death by setting her on fire. The trial court, however, acquitted the accused, holding that the prosecution failed to establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the prosecution witnesses failed to state the incident in true sense and did not disclose material facts to the Investigating Officer immediately after the incident. The court also found that the evidence of the minor son of the deceased, who was the most important witness, was not reliable as he had not stated the same facts to the Investigating Officer. The court further found that the Investigating Officer had categorically stated that the minor son did not make any statement to him about the incident.

Issues: 1. Whether the judgment of acquittal was based on sound principles of law and evidence. 2. Whether the trial court erred in discarding the evidence of the minor son of the deceased. 3. Whether the trial court overlooked material evidence and considered irrelevant evidence.

Ratio Decidendi: 1. The court held that the judgment of acquittal was based on sound principles of law and evidence. The trial court had carefully considered the evidence on record and had given cogent reasons for discarding the evidence of the prosecution witnesses. 2. The court held that the trial court did not err in discarding the evidence of the minor son of the deceased as his evidence was not reliable. He had not stated the same facts to the Investigating Officer and his statement was made after he had been in the custody of the defacto-complainant for about 14/15 days. 3. The court held that the trial court did not overlook material evidence or consider irrelevant evidence. The trial court had considered all the evidence on record and had given cogent reasons for its findings.

Final Decision: The court dismissed the revision application and upheld the judgment of acquittal.

JUDGMENT

Kanchan Chakraborty, J.

1. THE challenge in this revisional application is to the judgment and order dated 15th December, 2003 passed by the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court No. 1, Burdwan in Sessions Case No. 104 of 2002 (S.T. No. 32 of 2003) thereby acquitting the accused-opposite parties (hereinafter referred to as the opposite parties) from the charges under Sections 498A and 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code.

2. THE petitioner, being the defacto-complainant of the case, has come up with this application for revision challenging the legality, validity and propriety of the judgment impugned on the following grounds:

1. that the learned Trial Court failed to appreciate the evidence in its proper and true perspective;

2. that the learned Court failed to consider the settled principles of law in the matter of considering the statement made by the P.W. 1 vis-a-vis the First Information Report;

3. that the learned Trial Court failed to assign any reason as to why the oral testimonies of P.Ws. 12, 13, 17 21 and 25 were disbelieved;

4. that the learned Trial Court erred in accepting the evidence of P.W. 22 in part and disbelieving remaining part of his evidence;

5. that the learned Trial Court was entirely wrong in holding that the P.W. 6 was a tutored witness and that evidence of the witness nos. 11, 13, 18 and 20 altogether established the prosecution case;

6. that the learned Trial Court failed to consider the conduct of the opposite parties;

7. that the learned Trial Court overlooked material evidence and put much stress on irrelevant and immaterial evidence; and

8. that the judgment impugned, being otherwise bad in law, is liable to be set aside.

In brief, the case of the prosecution in the learned Trial Court is that the marriage of Kalpana and Swapan Dutta took place in the year 1995 and in their wedlock, one son and one daughter were born. Kalpana was subjected to physical and mental torture in her matrimonial house by her in-laws including her husband Swapan. Despite the fact that all the demands were met by the defacto-complainant, the in-laws including the husband of Kalpana increased the decree of torture on her and created pressure to bring more money from her parents. She was not provided with adequate food and allowed to go to her parents house. On 25.03.2002, in the morning, the defacto-complainant, Samiran received an information that Kalpana was set on fire by her in-laws. Receiving the information, Samiran rushed to the matrimonial house of Kalpana and found nobody there. He went to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital and found burnt dead-body of Kalpana. Apprehending strongly that Kalpana was burnt alive, Samiran lodged one First Information Report on 25.03.2002 in the Burdwan Police Station. On the basis of the said First Information Report, the case was investigated into and the investigation was ended in a charge sheet under Sections 498A and 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code against the opposite parties. The learned Trial Court, however, framed charges against them under Section 498A and Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code. The opposite parties pleaded not guilty to the charges and, accordingly, the trial commenced.

3. IN course of trial, 25 witnesses were examined on behalf of the prosecution. The First Information Report, one letter of the P.W. 1, one mass petition, INquest Report, post-mortem Report, one statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and one Sketch map of the place of occurrence were admitted into evidence and marked exhibits on behalf of the prosecution. One zarican of kerosene oil and brunt pieces of cloth of the victim were also admitted into evidence and marked material exhibits on behalf of the prosecution. No witness was examined from the defence side. The opposite parties pleaded their innocence and denied the prosecution case. The learned Trial Court, upon consideration of the evidence on record, oral and documentary, found that the















Click Here to Read the rest of this document

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Judicial Analysis

AI

SupremeToday Portrait Ad
supreme today icon
logo-black

An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers

Please visit our Training & Support
Center or Contact Us for assistance

qr

Scan Me!

India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!

For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :

whatsapp-icon Back to top