Where Two Views Are Possible, Judgment Of Acquittal Should Not Be Set Aside Unless Perverse: Allahabad HC Upholds Acquittal Of 4 Rape Accused

The Court was hearing a Government Appeal under 378(3) of the CrPC after the trial Court had acquitted the accused-respondents for a charge under Sections 366 and 376 IPC.

The bench of Justice Rajiv Gupta and Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra relied on the decision in Samsul Haque v. State of Assam, (2019) where according to the Court it was held, “judgment of acquittal, where two views are possible, should not be set aside, even if view formed by appellate court may be a more probable one, interference with acquittal can only be justified when it is based on a perverse view.”

AGA Jitendra Kumar Jaiswal appeared for the Appellant and Advocate Subhash Chandra Tiwari appeared for the Respondent.

Brief Facts-

In the present case, an FIR was filed by the father of the victim who reported the kidnapping of his minor daughter by the accused who lured her and her brother onto a tractor and later abducted her. The police recovered the victim and after investigation, charges of kidnapping and rape were filed against the accused persons. The trial Court, however, found that the victim, based on medical reports, was over 18 years old and had willingly left with the accused. The Court acquitted the accused persons of all charges, concluding that there was no evidence of force or non-consensual actions.

The Court noted that the FIR was filed after 15 days of the incident, and that inordinate delay does not find any plausible explanation either in the FIR or in the evidence of the witnesses.

The Court mentioned the Supreme Court decision in MS Narayana Menon @ Mani v. State of Kerala, (2006) and quoted, “In any event the High Court entertained an appeal treating to be an appeal against acquittal, it was in fact exercising the revisional jurisdiction. Even while exercising an appellate power against a judgment of acquittal, the High Court should have borne in mind the well settled principles of law that where two view are possible, the appellate Court should not interfere with the finding of acquittal recorded by the Court below.”

The Court further mentioned the decision of the Apex Court in Shailendra Rajdev Pasvan v. State of Gujarat, (2020) where according to the Court it was held, “the appellate court is reversing the trial court's order of acquittal, it should give proper weight and consideration to the presumption of innocence in favour of accused, and to the principle that such a presumption stands reinforced, reaffirmed and strengthened by the trial court…”

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the Government Appeal.