The appellate court must respect acquittals unless evidence shows the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.

JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Kainthla, J.

The present appeal is directed against the judgment dated 23.08.2011 passed by learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Court No.1, Hamirpur, District Hamirpur (learned Trial Court) vide which the respondents (accused before learned Trial Court) were acquitted for the commission of offences punishable under Section 61 (1) (a) of the Punjab Excise Act as applicable to State of H.P. and Section 182 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (MV Act). (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 Section 61 (1) (a) of the Punjab Excise Act as applicable to the State of H.P. and Section 182 of the M V Act. It was asserted that SI Raj Kumar (PW9), HC Suresh Kumar (PW1), HHC Joginder Singh (PW7), and Constable Suresh Kumar (PW2) were on patrol in an official vehicle being driven by HHC Ram Saran at Dehriyan on the intervening night of 31.03.2007 and 01.04.2007. A jeep bearing registration no. HP-67-0372 came on a high speed from Sujanpur at 01:25 am. The police signalled the driver to stop. The driver identified himself as Pawan Kumar, and the person sitting beside the driver identified himself as Lekh Raj. The vehicle was covered with the tarpaulin, which was got removed and cartons containing liquor bottles were found in the vehicle. SI Raj Kumar demanded a permit/license for transporting the liquor, but the accused could not produce any document. The place was lonely and deserted; hence, no independent witness could be associated. The cardboard boxes were checked, and they were found to be 130 in number. 120 boxes contained 12 bottles of country liquor each bearing the mark Una No. 1, and 10 boxes contained 12 bottles of country liquor each bearing the mark Lal Quila. Thus, the police recovered 1440 bottles of country liquor bearing the mark Una no. 1 and 120 bottles of country liquor bearing the mark Lal Quila. One bottle each was taken out as a sample from 6 boxes of Una No. 1, and one bottle each was taken out as a sample from 3 boxes of Lal Quila. Each bottle was sealed with a seal ‘R’. Seal impression (Ext.PW9/E) was taken on a separate piece of cloth, and the seal was handed over to HC Suresh Kumar after use. The remaining 1434 bottles of Una No. 1 and 117 bottles of Lal Quila, vehicle bearing registration no. HP-67-0372 and the samples were seized vide memo (Ext. PW1/A). Copies of seizure memos were supplied to each of the accused. Rukka (Ext.PW9/A) was prepared and was sent to the Police Station, where FIR (Ext.PW8/A) was registered. SI Raj Kumar investigated the matter. He prepared the site plan (Ext. PW9/B) and recorded the statements of witnesses as per their version. He deposited the case property with MHC Ranjit Singh (PW6), who deposited it in Maalkhana and made an entry in the malkhana register (Ex. PW6/D). He sent the sample bottles to CTL Kandaghat for analysis vide R.C. 5/2007 (Ext.PW6/C) through HHC Roop Lal (PW3), who deposited the bottles in the CTL Kandaghat and handed over the receipt to MHC on his return. The results of the analysis (Ext.PW6/A and Ext. PW6/B) were issued, stating that samples contained 50.0% proof alcohol each, and they were fit for human consumption. The documents of the vehicle were seized vide memo (Ext.PW4/A). After the completion of the investigation, the challan was prepared and presented before the learned Trial Court.

3. Learned Trial Court found sufficient reasons to summon the accused. When the accused appeared, the accused Pawan Kumar was charged with the commission of offences punishable under Section 61 (1) (a) of the Punjab Excise Act, and Section 182 of MV Act and the accused Lekh Raj was charged with the commission of an offence punishable under Section 61 (1) (a) of Punjab Ex