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TMI Blog1981 (1) TMI 272X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and sentencing the appellants for offences under s. 302 read with s. 34, Indian Penal Code, and under s. 326 read with s. 34 of the Code. The appellants, Ajit Singh and Balwant Singh, are father and son. Another son is Mohan Singh. All three were charged with the murder of Manilal and with causing injuries to Parmabhai, Bhulabhai and Natwarlal. The prosecution case is that Manilal, Bhulabhai and Bhikabhai were three brothers residing in a chawl belonging to the appellant Ajit Singh, that on 9th April, 1975 Manilal drew his salary from the factory where he worked and at about 6.45 p.m. on returning to his room in the chawl he was met by the appellants and Mohan Singh. They demanded payment of rent but Manilal said he would pay it only on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... llowed it against Ajit Singh and Balwant Singh. They were convicted under s. 302 read with s. 34 of the Code and sentenced to imprisonment for life. They were also convicted under s. 326 read with s. 34 of the Code but no separate sentence was passed thereunder. The appeal against the acquittal of Mohan Singh was dismissed. At the outset, it is urged by learned counsel for the appellants that the High Court erred in condoning the delay in filing the appeal, and the appeal should have been dismissed as barred by limitation. We have examined the facts carefully. It appears that initially the State Government took a decision not to file an appeal and it allowed the period of limitation to lapse. Subsequently, on certain observations made by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed to a cause arising within the period of limitation. In the present case, there was no such cause, and the High Court erred in condoning the delay. It is pointed out that the High Court could have sent for the record in the exercise of its revisional jurisdiction and examined the case. That is quite another matter and raises other questions. We are concerned here with the question whether the delay in filing the appeal could have been condoned. But quite besides this, there was also no merit in the appeal filed before the High Court. The trial court wrote a careful judgment, exhaustively considering all the evidence and on painstaking analysis reached conclusions which, in our opinion, are pre-eminently reasonable and support the or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that it could not be admitted in evidence under s. 154, Code of Criminal Procedure, and there was ample material to show that the eye-witnesses had plenty of time to confer with one another before the complaint was drawn up. The trial court also adverted to the fact that the police did not record the statement of the remaining eye-witnesses that very night. The Prosecuting Inspector also admitted in cross-examination that during the investigation all the eye-witnesses came forward with stereotype statements. One other significant fact remains. According to the evidence the incident was witnessed by several other people, but not a single independent witness has come forward to support the prosecution. The eye-witnesses produced are either ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ence in favour of the accused, a presumption certainly not weakened by the fact that he has been acquitted at his trial; (3) the right of the accused to the benefit of any doubt; and (4) the slowness of an appellate Court in disturbing a finding of fact arrived at by a Judge who had the advantage of seeing the witnesses. The approach has been endorsed by this Court repeatedly, and in a very recent decision, Ganesh Bhavan Patel Anr. v. State of Maharashtra to which one of us (Sarkaria, J.) was party, it was also observed: Where two reasonable conclusions can be drawn on the evidence on record, the High Court should as a matter of judicial caution, refrain from interfering with the order of acquittal recorded by the Court below. In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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