2026:CGHC:8680-DB Digitally signed by NAFR SISTA SISTA SOMAYAJULU SOMAYAJULU Date:

2026.02.18 HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR

18:05:24 +0530 CRA No. 1943 of 2019 {Arising out of judgment dated 28-6-2014 in Sessions Trial No.343/2012 of the 3^rd Additional Sessions Judge, Ambikapur, District Surguja}

Judgment reserved on: 15-1-2026 Judgment delivered on: 18-2-2026 Judgment (Full) uploaded on: 18-2-2026 Lakhan Ram, S/o Motiram Gond, Aged about 27 years, R/o Village Jhirmitti, P.S. Udaipur, District Sarguja, Chhattisgarh.

... Appellant versus State of Chhattisgarh, through the Police Station Udaipur, District Sarguja, Chhattisgarh.

... Respondent For Appellant : Mr. Saurabh Dangi, Advocate.

For Respondent : Mr. Vivek Mishra, Panel Lawyer.

Division Bench: -

Hon'ble Shri Sanjay K. Agrawal and Hon'ble Shri Arvind Kumar Verma, JJ.

C.A.V. Judgment Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.

1. The appellant herein has preferred this criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of the CrPC against the impugned judgment of conviction & order of sentence dated 28-6-2014 passed by the 3^rd Additional Sessions Judge, Ambikapur, District Surguja in Sessions Trial No.343/2012, by which he has been convicted for offence under Section 302 of the IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and further sentenced to pay a fine of ₹ 500/-, in default of payment of fine to further undergo additional rigorous imprisonment for three months.

2. The appeal filed by the appellant came up for hearing before this Court on 16-12-2019 and this Court directed to call for the records of the trial Court and list the matter after six weeks. However, when the matter again came up for hearing on 29-6-2021, the Assistant Record Keeper of the concerned District & Sessions Judge, Ambikapur has informed that record has been misplaced and this Court by order dated 29-6-2021 directed to reconstruct the record. This Court again on 15-11-2021, directed the Sessions Judge, Ambikapur to hold enquiry and submit report as to whether responsibility has been fixed for misplacing the record and what efforts have been taken to trace out the record. Further, this Court on 15-11-2021, also directed the Director (Prosecution) to file a detailed affidavit regarding what steps can be taken for reconstructing the record. The Director (Prosecution) on 24-11-2021, submitted its report that relevant documents have been forwarded to the Office of the Advocate General on 31-12-2014 and 1-1-2015, however, on 16-8-2021, they sought documents from the office of the Advocate General upon which they were informed that since no appeal was filed, therefore, now, the records have become untraceable. Thereafter, on 11-5- 2022, this Court directed the respective counsel for the parties to suggest ways and means to be adopted regarding reconstruction of the records of the original criminal case so that the criminal appeal can be heard. Ultimately, on 27-7-2022, the State has filed certified true copy of the final report bearing No.70/2012 in which following documents have been made available: -

1. Final Report

2. Memorandum Statement of the Accused (Ex.P-8)

3. Property Seizure Memo (Ex.P-10 – soil & Ex.P-11 – appellant's cloth)

4. Crime Details Form

5. Medical Examination of the Accused

6. FIR under Crime No.83/2012 (Ex.P-18)

7. Arrest Memo

8. Section 161 CrPC Statements of Witnesses

9. Merg diary (Ex.P-13A – merg intimation & Ex.P-17 – merg report)

10. Intimation by Hospital to Police Station

11. Notice for Naksha Panchayatnama

12. Naksha Panchayatnama (Ex.P-2)

13. Application for Postmortem and Postmortem Report (opinion)

(Ex.P-14 – application & Ex.P-15 report)

14. MLC of the deceased

3. Though the aforesaid documents have been made available by the prosecution and as such, most of the records are available except statements of the prosecution and defence witnesses and exhibited documents, but appeal cannot be heard, as statements of witnesses and some documents are not available.

4. The question for consideration is, what would be the prop