In acquittal appeals, the appellate court must respect the presumption of innocence and not overturn a plausible acquittal unless clear evidence of guilt is established.

JUDGMENT :

S.V. Pinto, J.

1. This appeal has been filed by the appellant State under Section 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the judgment and order of acquittal passed by learned 2^nd Additional Sessions Judge, Jamnagar (hereinafter referred to as "the learned Trial Court") in Sessions Case No. 13 of 2008 on 13-02-2012, whereby, the learned Trial Court has acquitted the respondents for the offence punishable under Sections 498-A, 306 and 114 of the INDIAN PENAL CODE , 1860 (hereinafter referred to as the IPC).

1.1 During the pendency of this appeal, the respondent Nos 1 and 2 expired and hence the appeal qua the respondent Nos. 1 and 2 was abated by an order dated 21-04-2023.

1.2 The respondents are hereinafter referred to as the accused as they stood in the rank and file 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 The accused Nos. 1 and 2 are the father-in-law and mother-in-law respectively of deceased Aartiben wife of Kamlesh Lalji Vara. The accused No. 3 is the brother-in-law and accused Nos. 4 to 6 are the sisters-in-law of deceased Aartiben. Aartiben was married to Kamlesh Laljibhai Vara about 8 years prior to the incident and who was the son of the accused Nos. 1 and 2, the brother of the accused No. 3, the brother-in- law of the accused No. 4 and the brother of the accused Nos. 5 and 6. Aartiben and her husband were residing in the house of the accused Nos. 1 and 2 situated in Bhoi Vada and were paying a rent of Rs.1000 and the accused Nos. 1 and 2 were living in Gulabnagar in Rajpal. The accused would often ask Aartiben to vacate the house and go elsewhere and she had told them that she would vacate the house when she got another house. On 21-10-2007, there was a Baby Shower ceremony in the street and all the accused came for the ceremony and after the ceremony was over, they came to the house of the house of Aartiben and asked her to vacate the house. She was so fed up of the harassment that around 12.30 hours, she consumed pesticides kept for insects. She informed her husband who came and called the neighbor Jogishwariben and she was taken to the hospital with her brother Atulbhai. She was admitted to the GG hospital and she filed a complaint at the City “A” Division Police Station, Jamnagar, which came to be registered under Sections 498-A and 114 of the IPC, which came to be registered as Jamnagar City “A” Division Police Station II-C.R.No.1506 of 2007. The said Aartiben Kamlesh Vara expired during treatment and hence Section 306 of the IPC was added in the FIR.

2.2 The Investigating Officer recorded the statements of the connected witnesses and collected the necessary documents and after completion of investigation the police filed the charge-sheet against the accused before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate First Class, Jamnagar and as the said offences against the accused were exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, the case was committed to the Sessions Court, Jamnagar as per the provisions of Section 209 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the case was registered Sessios Case No. 13 of 2008.

2.3 The accused were duly served with the summons and 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. 12 was framed and the statements of the accused were recorded at Exh.13 to Exh.18 respectively, wherein, the accused denied all the contents of the charge and the entire evidence of the prosecution was taken on record.

2.4 The prosecution produce