The appellate court must uphold acquittals unless the trial court's findings are manifestly erroneous or unsustainable.

Judgment :

(Sanjay S. Agrawal, J.)

1. This appeal has been preferred by the State/Appellant under Section 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, questioning the legality and propriety of the judgment dated 24/08/2016 passed by the Additional Judge to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Katghora, District- Korba (C.G.) in Sessions Trial No.108/13, whereby, respondents- Naresh Patre (Accused No.2) and Uttari Bai (Accused No.3), have been acquitted from the offence punishable under Sections 368 and 302/34 of IPC. Since, Chintaram (Accused No.1), who is the son of respondents- Naresh Patre (Accused No.2) and Uttari Bai (Accused No.3), was absconded, therefore, trial was not made against him.

2. Briefly stated the case of the prosecution is that, on 07/07/2010, a missing report was lodged by the father of the deceased- Koshil Bai Ratre, namely, Ramji Ratre, before the Police Station- Darri, alleging therein, that on the previous day, i.e. 06/07/2010, his daughter, who was 16 years old, has gone somewhere else in the morning around 09:30 A.M. along with the daughter of one Lambu Domar and has not returned. Further prosecution story is that, on 13/01/2011, a merg intimation (Ex.P/6) was lodged by one Santosh Kumar, the Manager of the Kalda Cosmetic Surgery Institute and Burn Centre (Kalda Hospital), Raipur before the Police Station- Saraswati Nagar, Raipur regarding the death of said Koshil Bai and, during the course of investigation, based upon the alleged missing report as well as the merg intimation lodged by said Santosh Kumar, the deceased was found to be burnt on 04/01/2011 and was admitted to the District Hospital at Kawardha, where she was examined medically by Dr. (Smt.) Usha Suryawanshi (PW-7), who certified that she is capable to give her statement and, accordingly, her statement (Ex.P/20) was recorded on the same day, i.e. 04/01/2011 and that by, looking to her condition, she was referred to Mekahara Hospital at Raipur on 05/01/2011 and from there, she was referred to Kalda Hospital, Raipur, where her dying declaration (Ex.P/24) was recorded on 08/01/2011 and during the course of her treatment, she died on 13/01/2011. Inquest of the dead body was made vide Ex.P/2 on 13/01/2011 and was sent for autopsy, which was conducted by Dr. R.K. Patel, who vide his report (Ex.P/3), opined the cause of death to be cardio-respiratory failure owing to burns and its complications and, that by completing the investigation, the charge- sheet was submitted before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Katghora against the respondents in their absence, as they were absconded, for the offence punishable under Sections 363, 366, 368 and 302 read with Section 34 of IPC in connection with Crime No.130/2011 and the matter was thereafter, committed to the learned trial Court, where respondents-Naresh Patre and Uttari Bai have surrendered and the charges were framed against them with regard to the offence punishable under Sections 368/34 and 302/34 of IPC, which they denied and claimed to be tried.

3. In order to bring home the guilt of the respondents, the prosecution has examined as many as 12 witnesses and exhibited 28 documents along with the ‘School Transfer Certificate’ (Article-A), while none was examined by the said respondents in their defence.

4. The trial Court, after considering the evidence led by the prosecution, particularly the statement (Ex.P/20) of the deceased, recorded on 04/01/2011 and her dying declaration (Ex.P/24) recorded on 08/01/2011, wherein, it was stated by her that, she died while cooking the food and none of the respondents were at home, held that the respondents are not involved in connection with the alleged crime and, accordingly, they have been acquitted from the commission of the alleged crime and, being aggrieved, the instant appeal has been preferred.

5. Learned counsel appearing for the State/appellant submits that the findings of the trial Court holding that the respondents are not involved in connection w