Gurpreet Singh And ANR v. State Of Punjab & ORS
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*! ""&& !, Upendra Pradhan v. State of Orissa, (2015) 11 SCC 124 :, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held:
14. Taking the first question for consideration, we are of the view that in case there are two views which can be culled out from the perusal of evidence and application of law, the view which favours the accused should be taken. It has been recognized as a human right by this Court. In Narendra Singh v. State of M.P. [Narendra Singh v. State of M.P., (2004) 10 SCC 699 : 2004 SCC (Cri) 1893] , this Court has recognised presumption of innocence as a human right and has gone on to say that: (SCC pp. 708 & 709, paras 30-31 & 33) "30. It is now well settled that benefit of doubt belonged to the accused. It is further trite that suspicion, however grave may be, cannot take place of a proof. It is equally well settled that there is a long distance between 'may be' and 'must be'.
31. It is also well known that even in a case where a plea of alibi is raised, the burden of proof remains on the prosecution. Presumption of innocence is a human right. Such presumption gets stronger when a judgment of acquittal is passed. This Court in a number of decisions has set out the legal principle for reversing the judgment of acquittal by a higher court (see Dhanna v. State of M.P. [Dhanna v. State of M.P., (1996) 10 SCC 79 : 1996 SCC (Cri) 1192], Mahabir Singh v. State of Haryana [Mahabir Singh v. State of Haryana, (2001) 7 SCC 148 : 2001 SCC (Cri) 1262] and Shailendra Pratap v. State of U.P. [Shailendra Pratap v. State of U.P., (2003) 1 SCC 761 : 2003 SCC (Cri) 432] ), which had not been adhered to by the High Court.
***
33. We, thus, having regard to the post-mortem report, are of the opinion that the cause of death of Bimlabai although is shrouded in mystery but benefit thereof must go to the appellants as in the event of there being two possible views, the one supporting the accused should be upheld."
15. The decision taken by this Court in the aforementioned case, has been further reiterated in State of Rajasthan v. Raja Ram [State of Rajasthan v. Raja Ram, (2003) 8 SCC 180 : 2003 SCC (Cri) 1965], wherein this Court observed thus: (SCC pp. 186-87, para 7)
"7. Generally, the order of acquittal shall not be interfered with because the presumption of innocence of the accused is further strengthened by acquittal. The golden thread which runs through the web of administration of justice in criminal cases is that if two views are possible on the evidence adduced in the case, one pointing to the guilt of the accused and the other to his innocence, the view which is favourable to the accused should be adopted. The paramount consideration of the court is to ensure that miscarriage of justice is prevented. A miscarriage of justice which may arise from acquittal of the guilty is no less than from the conviction of an innocent.
In a case where admissible evidence is ignored, a duty is cast upon the appellate court to reappreciate the evidence in a case where the accused has been acquitted, for the purpose of ascertaining as to whether any of the accused committed any offence or not. (See Bhagwan Singh v. State of M.P. [Bhagwan Singh v. State of M.P., (2002) 4 SCC 85 : 2002 SCC (Cri) 736] ) The principle to be followed by the appellate court considering the appeal against the judgment of acquittal is to interfere only when there are compelling and substantial reasons for doing so. If the impugned judgment is clearly unreasonable, it is a compelling reason for interference."
16. Therefore, the argument of the learned counsel for the appellant that the High Court has erred in reversing the acquittal of the appellant-accused stands good. The Additional Sessions Judge was right in granting him benefit of doubt. The view which favours the appellant-accused has to be considered and we discard the opposite view which indicates his guilt. .% "C ! (!
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