Prosecution must prove charges beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases; inconsistencies in witness testimonies led to acquittal.

JUDGMENT :

NISHA M. THAKORE, J.

1. The present appeal at the instance of the State under Section 378(1)(3) of CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE , 1973 is filed against the judgment and order dated 3rd November, 2007 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge & Special Judge, Dhrangadhra in Special Case No. 5 of 2007 challenging the aforesaid order of acquittal of the respondent no. 1-original accused for the offences alleged under Sections 323 , 504, 506(2) of INDIAN PENAL CODE , Section 135 of the BOMBAY POLICE ACT , as well as, Sections 183 and 184 of the Gujarat Panchayat Act , and Section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Atrocity Act, 1989’ for the sake of convenience).

2. The case put-forward by the prosecution by referring to the allegations made by the original complainant are as under:

2.1 The complainant, Jesingbhai Tejabhai Makwana belongs to Scheduled Caste being ‘Hindu-Vankar’ as recognized by the State Government, is a resident of Mithagodha Village, Taluka Patdi, District Surendranagar, has approached the Zinjuvada Police Station, with a complaint which is registered as C.R. No. II-3008 of 2007 on 14th March, 2007 at around 22:00 hours. It is contended that the complainant is residing with his family and is holding five Vighas of agricultural land, which is cultivated by him and his father. Currently in the aforesaid land, the crops were standing and since in the night hours the animals used to enter the field and damage the crops, he had gone to visit his field. While he was there on 14th March, 2007 at his field known as Vadiwada at around 8:00 to 9:00 hours in the night, it was noticed that one cow had entered his field and had caused damage to the standing crops. He had therefore, moved the cattle out of his field and had proceeded with the cow. On his way, a house of the respondent no. 1-accused-Rabari Rajabhai Bhathibhai was noticed and he had inquired as to whether the said cow belonged to him, to which the respondent no. 1-accused had responded that ‘yes’ the cow belonged to him but had inquired further as to what had happened. The complainant had raised concern about the damage caused to his standing crops and had cautioned to take the cow to Dabba, to which the respondent-accused had got excited and had started hurling abusive language at the complainant and had objected to the aforesaid act of the complainant. In that process, he had pushed the complainant on the ground and the complainant had received abrasions on his left arm. It is further alleged that the respondent-accused has assaulted the complainant by hitting with the stick on his head causing injury on his ear. Because of such injuries, the complainant had screamed since was night hours no one had approached to relieve him. The complainant had therefore, approached his father who was at different field, taking care of the standing crops and had shared about incident. It is the case of the complainant that the father of the complainant viz. Tejabhai and the complainant had once again visited the house of the respondent-accused and while father of the complainant had asked him about the incident, the respondent-accused had also assaulted his father with the stick and had remarked against his caste by using abusive words and had threatened them for their life. Because of the threat administered by the respondent-accused, it is the case of the complainant that they had returned back to their house and thereafter, they had approached the Police Station by lodging the present FIR. With such circumstances being noticed, the FIR came to be registered with the Patdi Police