Point of Law: Lack of licence will not automatically establish that PW1 was not conducting a tea shop.

JUDGMENT :

Jayachandran, J.

I think my wife be honest, and think she is not.

I think thou are just, and think thou are not."

(Act II, Scene 3)

"Ay, let her not and perish and be

Damned tonight for she shall not live"

(Act IV, Scene 1)

-'The Tragedy of Othello, The Moore

of Venice'-William Shakespeare.

Othello's syndrome is potentially lethal. Several murders transcending geographical barriers are rooted in this mysterious phenomenon of human mind. An accident apparent has a serpentine effervescence in the murder underneath. We, in this appeal, are called upon to test the authenticity of the Prosecution version, in the midst of inherent limitations in an appeal against acquittal.

2. Under challenge in the Criminal Appeals above referred is the judgment dated 25.5.2019 of the Additional Sessions Court, Muvattupuzha in S.C.No.821/2015. The impugned judgment acquitted the accused, who was charged with offences under Sections 302 and 506(i) of the Indian Penal Code. Criminal Appeal No.17/2019 is preferred by the wife of the deceased/victim under the Proviso to Section 372 of the Cr.P.C. The appeal preferred by the State under Section 378 of the Cr.P.C is not numbered, since Crl.M.A.No.1 of 2020 for condoning the delay of 349 days in preferring the appeal has not been allowed.

3. The prosecution allegations are to the following effect: The accused, Rasheed, was working as Manager in a plywood company owned by deceased, Noushad. Infidelity on the part of his wife predominated the mind of the accused and he suspected an illicit relationship by and between herself and the deceased, manifested by their frequent contacts over telephone. Out of this enmity, the accused, with the intention of doing away with the deceased, rammed his Maruti Ritz car bearing reg.no.KL-40-H-2322 in the white bullet motor bike bearing reg.no.KL-43-A-2721 driven by the deceased on 7.5.2015 at 7.45 a.m. at Kayyanippadi, Rayamanglam Panchayat. The deceased initially fell down on the wind shield of the offending car and thereafter, to the road margin on the southern side. The accused got out of the car, with a knife on his hand, and stabbed the deceased on his neck thrice, inflicting fatal injuries, to which the deceased succumbed, thus committing offences under Sections 302 and 506(1) of the Penal Code.

4. The prosecution examined 21 witnesses, through whom Exts.P1 to P38 were marked and MO1 to MO16 were identified. Upon examining the accused under Section 313 Cr.P.C., DW1 and DW2 were examined as defence witnesses. Exts.D1 to D4 were marked. In acquitting the accused, the learned Sessions Judge frowned upon the evidence of PW1-the solitary eye witness-and discarded the evidence adduced by the other witnesses, as unsafe to rely upon.

5. Before addressing the facts and evidence, we will first address the scope, limitation and the principles governing an appeal against acquittal. The jurisdiction of the appellate court is co-extensive with that of trial court in the matter of assessment, appraisal and appreciation of evidence, as also, in determining the disputed issues [Rajan v. State of M.P. -(1999) 9 SCC 29]. However, it is cardinal to bear in mind the following principles enumerated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, while considering an appeal against an order of acquittal:

1. In an appeal against an order of acquittal, the High Court possesses all the powers, and nothing less than the powers it possesses while hearing an appeal against an order of conviction.

2. The High Court has the power to reconsider the whole issue, reappraise the evidence, and come to its own conclusion and findings in place of the findings recorded by the trial Court, if the said findings are against the weight of the evidence on record, or in other words, perverse.

3. Before reversing the findings of acquittal, the High Court has to consider each ground on which the order of acquittal was based and to record its own reasons for not accepting those grounds and not subscribing to the view expressed by the t