Judgment

Dalveer Bhandari, J. —

1.This appeal is directed against the Judgment of the High Court of Allahabad dated 11th November, 2005 passed in Criminal Appeal No. 365 of 1981.

2.This is a murder case in which the trial court acquitted the accused. The High Court reversed the trial court’s decision, finding the accused guilty. In doing so, the appellate court failed to give proper weight to the views of the trial court as to credibility of witnesses, thereby ignoring the standards by which the appellate courts consider appeals against acquittals.

3.We have endeavoured to set out the guidelines for the appellate courts in dealing with appeals against acquittal. An overriding theme emanates from the law on appeals against acquittals. The appellate court is given wide powers to review the evidence to come to its own conclusions. But this power must be exercised with great care and caution. In Order to ensure that the innocents are not punished, the appellate court should attach due weight to the lower court’s acquittal because the presumption of innocence is further strengthened by the acquittal. The appellate court should, therefore, reverse an acquittal only when it has “very substant