The prosecution must provide sufficient evidence to prove the charges against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.

JUDGMENT

Sandeep Mehta, J. - The appeal (No.124/2018) and the Criminal Leave to appeal application (No.278/2018) have been preferred by the victim Mst 'S' and the State of Rajasthan respectively for assailing the judgment dated 25.04.2018 passed by learned Special Judge, POCSO Act Cases, Jodhpur in Sessions Case No.116/2016 (152/13) whereby the respondents accused Shiva @ Sawaram and Prakash were acquitted of the charges under Sections 370 (4), 342/34, 354-A/34, 376(2)(f) read with Section 120B & 109, 376(D), 506/34, 509/34, 109/120B of the IPC and Sections 5(f)/6, 5(g)/6, 7/8 read with Section 17 of the POCSO Act, 2012.

2. Shri P.C. Solanki, learned counsel representing the complainant in both the appeals and the learned Public Prosecutor vehemently and fervently contended that the acquittal of the respondents Shiva @ Sawaram and Prakash of the charges as recorded by the trial court is absolutely illegal, unjust and based on misreading/ignorance of strong incriminating material and evidence available on record and thus, the appeals deserve to be admitted.

3. Per contra, learned counsel Shri Pradeep Shah and Shri Arun Kumar, Associate to Shri Nishant Bora, Advocate representing the accused Prakash and Shiva respectively, vehemently and fervently urged that the entire case set up by the prosecution as against the respondents (acquitted-accused) is false and fabricated and the evidence available on record does not inspire confidence. Learned counsel Shri Pradeep Shah and Shri Arun Kumar urged that the allegations levelled by the prosecution as against the acquitted accused are based sheerly on conjectures, surmises and inferences sought to be drawn from a totally fictional theory and as such, the trial court was perfectly justified in acquitting the respondents of the charges and hence, the appeal as well as the leave to appeal application do not merit admission.

4. We have given our thoughtful consideration to the submissions advanced at Bar and have gone through the impugned judgment and the material available on record.

5. Learned counsel Shri P.C. Solanki, representing the complainant and the learned Public Prosecutor have not disputed the fact that the entire prosecution case as set out against the respondents (acquitted accused) has been discussed by the trial court at Paras Nos.419 to 427 (Shiva) and Paras Nos.428 to 434 (Prakash). Thus for elaborating upon the issues advanced by learned counsel representing the respective parties, we deem it fit to reproduce the discussion made by the trial court while recording the findings of acquittal qua each accused in the impugned judgment:-

6. First, the case of the accused Shiva @ Sawaram is taken up. It is clear that, all that has been alleged by PW.21 Karamveer Singh, the sole witness who has given evidence against this accused, is that he (the witness) called the accused Shiva to find out the whereabouts of the principal accused Asaram (before the incident took place) on which, Shiva told him about the schedule availability of Asaram at different places on different dates. The complainant reached Jodhpur on 14th August and finding the gate of the Ashram to be locked, he claims to have called up Shiva who assisted in getting the gate of the Ashram opened. The trial court held in the impugned judgment and rightly so that the call details of the mobile phone allegedly in use of Shiva were not proved by the prosecution. Karamveer Singh (PW.21) admitted in his evidence that the accused Shiva never called him up of his own accord to tell him the location of accused Asaram. The flowchart of the call details of various mobile phones held by the other accused persons does not indicate that the accused Shiva ever talked to the two convicted co-accused Shilpi or Sharad, who are alleged to be the conspirators. The prosecution claimed that the accused Shiva used to talk to Asaram with the aid of the accused Prakash but no evidence was led by the prosecution to show that the alleged Mobile N