The prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, with the trial court's acquittal upheld due to insufficient evidence against the accused under murder charges while their conviction for grievous and simple hurt was affirmed.

Judgment :

Dr. Pushpendra Singh Bhati, J.

1. The instant criminal appeals arise out of a common judgment and order dated 19.05.2009 passed by the learned Additional District & Sessions Judge, Nimbahera (‘Trial Court’) in Sessions Case No.12/2008 (State of Rajasthan Vs. Madan Lal & Ors.), whereby the learned Trial Court, acquitted the accused (Madan lal, Prakash Chandra, Udai lal and Kishan lal) of the charges against them under Sections 302 /34 & 447 IPC, but convicted and sentenced them as hereunder:

1.1. For the purpose of clarity, in the present adjudication, the parties herein shall be referred to as ‘State’ and ‘accused’respectively.

1.2. The State has preferred the above-numbered Criminal Appeal No. 635/2009, against the impugned judgment to the extent of acquittal of the accused, whereas the accused persons have challenged the said judgment, to the extent of their conviction, by preferring the instant Criminal Appeal No. 359/2009.

2. The matter pertains to an incident which had occurred in the year 2007 and the present appeals have been pending since the year 2009.

3. Brief facts of this case, as placed before this Court by the learned Public Prosecutor appearing on behalf of the State, are that on 14.12.2007 at around 12:00 p.m., one Satyanarayan (complainant), while he was under treatment at CHC, Dungla, submitted a written report (Ex.P.10) before the S.H.O., Police Station, Dungla, stating therein that on the said date at around 8:00 a.m. when the complainant went to his well, the accused, came there, armed with an axe & lathi. It was stated in the written report that the accused Prakash and Madan attacked the complainant with axe, and the accused Udai Lal and Kishan Lal forcibly took off the clothes of the complainant and subjected him to grave beatings, as a result whereof, the complainant sustained injuries on the head (by axe), fracture in hand as well as injuries on both the legs. As per the complainant, the said act of the accused persons was intervened by Sohan Lal, Durga Shanker and Udi Bai, who at the relevant time were present at the place of the incident.

3.1. On the basis of the aforementioned information, a case was registered under Sections 447 & 323/34 IPC and the investigation began accordingly. While the investigation was going on, Satyanarayan (complainant) died under the treatment. Thus, upon completion of the investigation, the charge-sheet was filed against the accused persons under Sections 447 , 323/34 & 302 IPC before the concerned Court.

3.2. Owing to the nature of the crime, the matter was committed to the Court of Session for the trial.

3.3. During the course of trial, the statements of 27 witnesses (P.W. 1 to P.W. 27) were recorded, and documents (Ex.P.1 to 43) got exhibited on behalf of the prosecution; whereafter, the accused were examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C., in which they pleaded innocence and false implication in the criminal case in question due to previous animosity.

3.4. After conclusion of the trial, the learned Trial Court passed the impugned judgment dated 19.05.2009, as above, whereby though the accused were acquitted under Sections 302 /34 & 447 IPC, but convicted under Sections 325/34 & 323/34 IPC. Hence, the State is in appeal against the acquittal part of the impugned judgment,