The appellate court upheld the acquittal, emphasizing the necessity of substantial evidence for conviction and the presumption of innocence in criminal cases.

JUDGMENT :

(S.V. PINTO, J.)

1. The present appeal is filed by the appellant State under Section 378(1)(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the judgement and order of acquittal passed by the learned Presiding Officer and Additional Sessions Judge, FTC No. 1, Vadodara (hereinafter referred to as “the learned Trial Court”) in Atrocity Case No. 51/2008 on 19.03.2010, whereby, the learned Trial Court has acquitted the respondents for the offence punishable under Sections 143, 147, 149, 323, 504 and 114 of IPC and Section 135 of B.P. Act and Section 3(1)(10) of Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as “the Atrocities Act”).

1.1 The respondents are hereinafter referred to as “the accused” as they stood in the original case for the sake of convenience, clarity and brevity.

2. The brief facts that emerge from the record of the case are as under:

2.1 On 29.08.2008, the complainant - Babubhai Dhanjibhai Rohit along with his uncle Chimanbhai and aunt Shantaben Chimanbhai had gone to their agricultural land situated on Tarsali - Chikhodra Road and bearing old survey no. 126 and at that time, the accused Chirag Manubhai Amin, Sandip Manubhai Amin Laxmanbhai Karshanbhai Rabari and four other persons came and hurled caste abuses at them and told them that the land did not belong to them and assaulted the complainant. The accused no. 1 - Chiragbhai Manubhai Amin gave four slaps to Chimanbhai, and as all the accused were armed with sticks and swords, the complainant and others ran away. Regular Civil Suit No. 642 of 2008 is pending about the agricultural land with Manubhai Maganbhai Amin and that was the reason for the accused to assault the complainant. The complainant filed the complaint before the Makarpura Police Station under Sections 143, 147, 149, 323, 504 and 114 of the IPC, Section 3(1)(10) of the Atrocity Act and Section 135 of the B.P. Act which was registered at I – C.R. No. 352 of 2008 on 29.08.2008.

2.2 The Investigating Officer recorded the statements of the connected witnesses and seized the necessary documents and after completion of investigation, a charge- sheet came to be filed before the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Vadodara and as the said offences against the accused were exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, the case was committed to the Sessions Court, Vadodara as per the provisions of Section 209 of Code of Criminal Procedure and the case was registered as Atrocity Case No. 51/2008.

2.3 The accused were duly served with the summons and the accused appeared before the learned Trial Court and it was verified whether the copies of all the police papers were provided to the accused as per the provisions of Section 207 of the Code. A charge at Exh. 5 was framed against the accused and the statements of the accused were recorded at Exhs. 6 to 10 respectively, wherein, all the accused denied the contents of the charge and the entire evidence of the prosecution was taken on record.

2.4 The prosecution produced the following evidence to bring home the charge against the accused.

ORAL EVIDENCE

DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

2.5 After the learned APP filed the closing pursis, the further statement of the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 were recorded, wherein, the accused denied all the evidence of the prosecution on record. The accused refused to step into the witness box or examine witnesses on