Prosecution must be proven beyond reasonable doubt; contradictions in witness testimonies and an ante-timed FIR raise significant doubts undermining the overall credibility of the prosecution case.

JUDGMENT :

(Delivered by Hon'ble J.J. Munir, J.)

1. This judgment will decide the present Criminal Appeal and the two connected Criminal Appeals Nos.3888 of 2014 and 4448 of 2014. All the appeals arise out of the same crime, where the

three appellants stood their trial jointly. They were convicted and sentenced to varying terms for the same offences. All the appeals have been heard together with Criminal Appeal No.1345 of 2015 being formally treated as the leading case. The appellants were tried before Mr. Musharraf Hussain, the then Additional Sessions Judge, Court No.1, Bulandshahr vide Sessions Trial No.1316 of 2010 (arising out of Crime No.157 of 2010), under Section 326 read with Section 34 and Section 304 read with of the Indian Penal Code (for short, ' IPC '), Police Station Khurja Dehat, District Bulandshahr. They were convicted and sentenced by the learned Trial Judge vide judgment and order dated 04.09.2014, passed in the sessions trial aforesaid, in the following manner:

2. Nanak Chand, a resident of Village Dharpa, Police Station Khurja Dehat, District Bulandshahr, lodged a First Information Report (for short, 'FIR') at 6.30 a.m. with Police Station Khurja Dehat, District Bulandshahr saying that in the night intervening 13/ 14.08.2010, his wife Smt. Ram Kumari, sons Rupesh and Chandra Mohan, were asleep in the verandah outside his house. The informant, Nanak Chand was asleep in the barnyard (Gher), where his animals are housed. At 1.00 o'clock in the wee hours, residents of his village, Bablu son of Bhule, Anil son of Ram Charan Jatav and Kale son of Chhote Lal, a resident of Village Achchheja Khurd, District Bulandshahr, assaulted his sleeping wife and children, throwing acid from a bucket, in consequence of which the victims, who had received severe acid burns, wailed and raised a commotion. Upon hearing all these sounds, he woke up. His daughter, Babita, who was already awake in order to attend the call of nature, told him that she had seen and identified the appellants, Bablu, Anil and Kale clearly committing the crime. A lot of natives of the village gathered. The informant and other residents of the village conveyed his injured wife and children to the Government Hospital, District Bulandshahr, where he got them admitted for treatment. The informant's wife, Ram Kumari and Rupesh, his son, were referred by the District Hospital to a higher centre in Delhi.

3. It is said in the FIR that in the year 2006, two of the appellants, Bablu and Kale, had ravished his daughter 'A', in connection whereof they were convicted and sentenced by the Court to ten years imprisonment. It was just a few months back that they had come out of prison. It is on this account that they harboured animosity against the informant and for the said reason assaulted his wife and children, employing acid.

4. The aforesaid FIR was registered as Crime No.157 of 2010, under Section 326 IPC . Later on, during treatment at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Delhi (for short, 'the GTB Hospital'), the informant's wife succumbed to her injuries on 20.08.2010. The informant through a report dated 25.09.2010 informed the Police about the development. This led the Police to add the offence punishable under Section 304 to the crime vide G.D. No.21 dated 25.09.2010 at 5.30 p.m.

5. Immediately after the crime was registered and the victims conveyed to the District Hospital, Bulandshahr, they were medically examined there on 14.08.2