The prosecution must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt; acquittal is upheld when evidence is insufficient to establish guilt.

JUDGMENT :

(Delivered by Hon'ble Rajiv Gupta, J)

1. The instant Government Appeal has been filed by the State of U.P. alongwith an application for grant of leave to appeal against the judgment and order dated 3.8.2018 passed by Addl. Sessions Judge, Court No. 6, Jhansi in Sessions Trial No. 315 of 2010 (State of U.P. Vs. Bholu Qureshi and 5 others) arising out of Case Crime No. 722 of 2008, under Sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 323, 353, 324, 504, 506, 342, 336 IPC and section 7 Criminal Law Amendment Act, P.S.-Babina, District-Jhansi, whereby the accused-opposite parties No. 1 to 6 have been acquitted.

2. We have heard Sri Ashish Tiwari, learned AGA appearing for the State-appellant, Sri Satya Narayan Vashishth and Sri Man Mohan Mishra, learned counsel for all the accused-opposite parties No. 1 to 6 and perused the material on record.

3. The prosecution story, in nutshell, as narrated in the F.I.R. lodged by S.I. Sri Arun Kant Singh, is that on 22.7.2008 at about 9.30 p.m. in the evening a telephonic information was received that in the sarafa bazaar, public has apprehended one person and are beating him, where large number of people have gathered. On the basis of said information, the first informant alongwith police party reached at the sarafa bazaar and found that the public at large had apprehended one Nikki son of Ashok Kumar Dhobi and is beating him however, the police party asked the crowd not to beat the said apprehended person, consequent thereto, the crowd got agitated and started hurling abuses. The police party somehow rescued the apprehended person Nikki and brought him at the police station, however, accused persons namely Sunil Agarwal, Bholu Qureshi, Mahesh @ Dharti Pakar, Rajesh Gupta @ Pappu, Ashu Gupta, Shahid Mansudi, Vinod Agarwal, Om Prakash Sahu, Deepak Ahirwar, Kalley Yadav alongwith 40-50 unknown persons armed with lathi, danda and illegal arms assembled together and blocked the national highway, consequent to which, large number of vehicles were stranded and started hurling abuses to the police administration causing great inconvenience to the passers by. S.O. Sri Ram Kumar Sharma (P.W.-1) tried to persuade the crowd to allow free flow of the traffic, however, they did not budge and started further hurling abuses and on being asked to refrain from hurling abuses, they got agitated and started assaulting the police personnels with lathi, danda and use of illegal fire-arms, consequent thereto, there was a stampede and passers by started running helter skelter raising alarm, the people living in the vicinity were terrified creating a sense of fear and terrorism on their minds.

4. S.O. Ram Kumar Sharma approached the higher police authority and requested for sending additional force and when the additional force reached there, the crowd disbursed from the place of incident pelting stones. In the said pelting of stones, S.O. Ram Kumar Sharma, S.I. Prem Sagar, S.I.Virendra Singh, constable Imamuddin, Home-guard Veerpal Singh received injuries, who were taken for medical treatment. On the basis of said incident, the first information report was lodged by S.I. Arun Kant Singh, which was registered vide Case Crime No. 722 of 2008, under Sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 323, 353, 324, 504, 506, 342, 336 IPC and section 7 Criminal Law Amendment Act, P.S.-Babina, District- Jhansi.

5. After registration of the first information report, the G.D. report of the said incident was drawn and thereafter the victims were sent for medical examination and their medical examination report was submitted. The Investigating Officer thereafter investigated the matter and recorded the statement of the relevant witnesses and after concluding the investigation submitted the charge sheet against the six accused opposite parties. On the basis of said charge sheet, learned Magistrate had taken cognizance and thereafter the case was committed to the court of session, where it was registered vide Sessions Trial No. 315 of 2010 (State of U.P. Vs. Bh