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TMI Blog1983 (5) TMI 272X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... imprisonment for life. They have preferred this appeal under the Supreme Court Enlargement of Jurisdiction (criminal) Act. 2. Shri A.N. Mulla and Shri Kohli, learned Counsels for the appellants read to us, in extenso, the evidence of all the material witnesses as also the judgments of the learned Sessions Judge and the High Court. They also addressed to us elaborate arguments. We are satisfied that the High Court did not overstep the bounds of their jurisdiction or side-step the principles to be observed in dealing with appeals against orders of acquittal. We are also satisfied that the learned Sessions Judge was patently in error in acquitting the accused and that he entertained doubts where none existed. The High Court was quite right ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t, only passersby will be witnesses. Their evidence cannot be brushed aside or viewed with suspicion on the ground that that they are mere chance witnesses'. The expression 'chance witnesses' is borrowed from countries where every man's home is considered his castle and every one must have an explanation for his presence elsewhere or in another man's castle. It is a most unsuitable expression in a country whose people are less formal and more casual. To discard the evidence of street hawkers and street vendors on the ground that they are 'chance witnesses' even where murder is committed in a street is to abandon good sense and take too shallow a view of the evidence. 4. Another reason given by the learned Sess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ction. To discard the evidence of witnesses on the ground that he did not react in any particular manner is to appreciate evidence in a wholly unrealistic and unimaginative way. 7. The learned Sessions Judge also commented on the delay in the special report reaching the Magistrate and inferred therefrom that the First Information Report must have been prepared much later than when way stated to have been prepared. There is no basis for this inference. The First Information Report was given at 7.00 P.M. The special report which was prepared thereafter was despatched to the Magistrate at Karnal, 13 miles away, by Special Messenger. It reached the Magistrate at 3.30 A.M. One must make some allowances for delays arising in the course of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he special report reaching the Magistrate or that there was any justification for inferring that the First Information Report must have been given much later. 8. The learned Sessions Judge, and the High Court too, commented that the arrest of Sat Pal was shrouded in suspicion. The Sub Inspector of Police claimed that he arrested Sat Pal in the night when he was trying to hide behind some Jhuggis. The learned Sessions Judge thought that this could not be true since Sat Pal had gone to the hospital and had got himself examined by the doctor at 6.25 P.M. We are unable to agree with the learned Sessions Judge and the High Court that there was anything suspicious about the arrest of Sat Pal. The doctor deposed that after Sat Pal was medically ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... b injuries on the right side of the abdomen, left side of the chest and left shoulder. Yesh Pal brother of the deceased then took out his belt which he was wearing around his waist and attacked the accused with it. P.Ws 4 and 5, a milk vendor and a vegetable and fruit hawker, who also witnessed the occurrence, threw brick-bats at the accused. The accused left the deceased and ran away. The deceased was then taken to the hospital where he died later. Yash Pal, PW-3 went to the Police Station and gave the First Information Report. 11. The evidence, while it discloses that there was some previous trouble between the deceased and Manmohan, does not disclose any special ill-feeling between the deceased and Rana Partap and Sat Pal. But the cir ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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