In appeal against acquittal, interference only if perverse, misreads evidence or guilt sole possible view; upheld here due to medical inconsistencies, unexplained accused injuries, improbable facts, credible defence creating reasonable doubt.

JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Kainthla, J.

The present appeal is directed against the judgment dated 29.02.2012, passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge- II, Kangra at Dharamshala, District Kangra (HP) (learned Appellate Court), vide which the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 07.08.2008, passed by learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Jawali, District Kangra, H.P. (learned Trial Court) were set aside. (Parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience.)

2. Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present appeal are that the police presented a challan before the learned Trial Court against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 323, 325, 341, 342 and 506 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as ‘IPC’). It was asserted that the informant, Swaroop Singh (PW1), is running a milk dairy at his home. He supplies milk to various people, including the accused (Puran Chand). Puran Chand complained to the informant about the quality of the milk 3-4 days before the incident. The informant replied that he did not have any other milk, and if the accused was unhappy with the quality, he should get the milk from someone else. The informant went to supply milk on 24.02.2006 on his scooter bearing registration no. HP54-7657 at about 08.30 AM. He parked his scooter outside Dev Raj’s house. Puran Chand came to the spot with his wife Satya Devi and sons Sanjeev @ Suresh Kumar and Hans Raj. They beat the informant, dragged him towards their house and tied him with ropes to a mango tree. They beat the informant with a stick (Ex. P3) and a shovel (Ex. P2). They dragged him inside the room and bolted the door from the outside. Puran Chand threatened to kill the informant. The incident was witnessed by many people, but nobody rescued the informant. The informant remained inside the room for about two hours. Jeewan Lal (Pradhan)(PW2), Suresh Kumar (Ward Member) (PW4), Ishwar Dass (Up-Pradhan) (PW3), and Dilawar Singh (Zila Parishad) rescued the informant. Manorma Devi, Pradhan, Gram Panchayat, Bharmad also came to the spot and asked the informant to settle the matter. The informant’s utensils, containers and plastic bottles remained on the spot. The money kept by the informant in his pocket was also missing. The matter was reported to the police, and FIR (Ex.PW1/A) was registered. HC Vinod Kumar (PW6) filed an application (Ex.PW6/A) for the informant’s medical examination. Dr Aman Dua (PW8) conducted the informant’s medical examination and found multiple injuries on his body. He advised an X-ray. Dr Raman Sharma (PW9) went through the X-ray and found that the informant had suffered a fracture of the 1/3rd upper fibula. He issued the reports (Ex.PW9/A and Ex.PW9/B). Dr Aman Dua (PW8) issued the final report (Ex.PW8/A) stating that the nature of injuries was grievous and their probable duration was three hours. ASI Desh Raj (PW7) conducted further investigation. He went to the spot and prepared a site plan (Ex.PW7/A). He seized the rope (Ex. P1), shovel (Ex. P2), and stick (Ex. P3) vide m