Point of Law; In case of acquittal, it is settled law that if two views are possible, the appellate court should adopt the view which is favourable to the accused

JUDGMENT :

Instant Government Appeal is preferred against the judgment and order dated 22.07.2013, passed in Jail Appeal No. 7 of 2013, Asad Ali Vs. State of Uttarakhand, by the court of 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, Haridwar (for short, “the appeal”). By the impugned judgment and order, the conviction and sentence of the respondent Abid Ali @ Asad Ali @ Abu Bakar @ Ajeet Singh (hereinafter referred to as “the accused”), under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 469, 471 & 120B IPC, Section 14 Foreigners Act, 1946 (for short, “the Foreigners Act”), Section 12 (1A)(a) of the Passports Act, 1967 (for short, “the Passports Act”), Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (for short, “the Official Secrets Act”) and Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 recorded on 19.12.2012, in Criminal Case No. 2596 of 2010, State Vs. Abid Ali @ Asad Ali @ Ajeet Singh @ Abu Bakar by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Haridwar (for short, “the case”), has been set aside and the accused has been acquitted of the charges. In the case, the accused has also been convicted of the charge under Sections 4 & 9 of the Official Secrets Act, but the accused was not sentenced thereunder. In appeal, no order has been passed about the charge under Sections 4 & 9 of the Official Secrets Act.

2. Facts necessary for the disposal of the instant appeal, briefly stated, are as hereunder:-

(i) PW1 R.B. Chamola was posted as In-charge of ATS Kumbh Mela, 2010, Haridwar. On that date, at about 9:00 in the morning, he received an information that Asad Ali, a Pakistani National had been illegally staying in India and he is in contact with Pakistan’s Secret Agency, ISI. He collects military information, photographs and documents, which is dangerous to the integrity and sovereignty of the Nation. According to the information, Asad Ali would reach at about 2:00 PM at BSM Tiraha, Roorkee on that date, to transmit some articles by courier. Based on this information, the superior officers were informed. A team was constituted, which included PW3 Head Constable, Deepak Arora, PW4 Sub Inspector, Nadeem Atahar, PW5 Sub Inspector, Pradeep Rawat and PW6 Sub-Inspector, Vinod Kumar Jetha. The team proceeded at the indicated place. The members of the team got themselves searched to ensure that no one possesses any incriminating article. The informer was with the Police Team. After a while, a person was indicated by the informant that he is Asad Ali. That person was apprehended by the Police Team at 1:50 PM. On being asked, he revealed his name Asad Ali, S/o Barkat Ali, R/o 22 Shahpeer Gate, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. From his right hand, an envelope was recovered, which had the sketch maps in it, pertaining to Army. Other secrete informations were also there in that envelope. Apart from it, a laptop, mobile phones, ATM cards and various other articles were recovered from him. He was taken into custody and interrogated. Then he revealed that his real name is Abid Ali @ Asad Ali @ Abu Bakar, @ Ajeet Singh, and he is a resident of Mohalla Hazrat Baba, Hazi Shah Saleem, Village Hajjarwal, Police Station Thokar Niyaz Baig, Post Office Mansoora, District Lahore, Pakistan. The accused revealed that he had been sent India by Major Amir Ali @ Rathore and Altaf of ISI. After two months’ training in Lahore, he was sent to collect secret information. From Karachi, he was sent Dhaka and Kathmandu and from there with the help of an agent Ash-ur-Rehman @ Noor-Ul- Iltaf, he entered India. He went Lucknow and under instructions, he met ISI agent Rehan in Meerut. Accused visited Patiala Nabha Cantt. to collect military information, and sent it through his e-mail ID AJEETSINGH-2005 @Yahoo.Com to Amir Rathore at the e-mail ID loverboy196050@Yahoo.Com.

(ii) According to the accused, he was operating under the instructions of Major Rathore. He was getting information relating to military movements of Meerut, Roorkee, Dehradun and Bikaner. He would receive money through Western Union Money Transf