Judgment & Order

This Criminal Revision Petition is filed challenging the judgment and order dated 05.08.2024 passed by Learned Sessions Judge, Gomati District Udaipur in connection with Case No.Criminal Appeal No.11 of 2023. By the said judgment and order Learned Sessions Judge, Gomati District, Udaipur uphold the judgment and order of conviction and sentence dated 16.11.2023 passed by Learned C.J.M, Gomati District, Udaipur in PRC(SP) 01 of 2022. Learned C.J.M. by the said judgment and order found the petitioner guilty and sentenced him to suffer RI for six months and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- under Section 279 of IPC i.d. to suffer RI for three months. He was further sentenced to suffer S.I. for six months and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- under Section 184 of MV Act i.d. to suffer SI for three months. The petitioner-convict was further sentenced to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- for the offence punishable under Section 179 of MV Act i.d. to suffer RI for three months. Again he was sentenced to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- for having committed an offence punishable under Section 180 of MV Act i.d. to suffer further RI for six months and it was further ordered that the sentences shall run concurrently.

Heard Learned Counsel Ms. Ayesha Saha Hirawat appearing for the accused petitioner and also heard Learned P.P. appearing on behalf of the State.

At the time of Hearing Learned Counsel appearing for the accused petitioner submitted that the judgment and order of Learned C.J.M. as well as the judgment delivered by Learned Sessions Judge, Gomati District, Udaipur are perverse and suffers from infirmities and considering the materials on record there was no scope on the part of the Learned Trial Court to find the accused to be guilty. But the Learned Trial Court mis-appreciated the evidence on record and warranted conviction upon him for which the same needs to be interfered with. It was further submitted by Learned Counsel for the petitioner accused that no independent witnesses supported the prosecution story but the Learned Trial Court did not consider the contradiction surfaced from the evidence on record and came to a wrong conclusion that the petitioner accused committed the offence on the alleged date and found him guilty for which the Learned Counsel urged for interference with the judgment.

On the other hand, Learned P.P. appearing on behalf of the respondent-State submitted that considering the evidence on record Learned Trial Court rightly found the petitioner to be guilty and there was no perversity or infirmity in the judgment delivered by Learned Trial Court as well as by the Learned Appellate Court. So in summing up Learned P.P. appearing for the State submitted that there is no merit in the petition filed by the petitioner and the same needs to be dismissed/rejected.

Now let us discuss about the gist of the prosecution story. On 28.10.2021 at about 2230 hours when the then SDPO Dhruba Nath along with staff were performing mobile duty in the area of Udaipur town that time he received an information from reliable source that a vehicle bearing No.TR03A-0697 (Maruti Suzuki Alto) was plying from Central road Udaipur towards Matabari loaded with contraband items. Accordingly after receiving the information he along with staff and SI Debabrata Biswas of R.K. Pur P.S. rushed to the spot near Bazar India to verify the information and found that one vehicle was coming in high speed and was proceeding towards Matabari a