State applied for leave to appeal acquittal. Bench held prosecution evidence suffered discrepancies and material omissions, failing to prove assault or caste abuse. Leave application dismissed.
Application for leave to file appeal was dismissed and disposed of.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
Waghmare
27.appln.783.2012
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPEALLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 783 OF 2012
The State of Maharashtra
.. Applicant
Versus
Sagar Vishwasrao Shelke
.. Respondent
Smt. V.S. Mhaispurkar, A.P.P. for the State/Applicant. Shri Anand S. Patil for the Respondent.
CORAM : A.R. JOSHI, J.
DATED : 30th OCTOBER, 2014.
P.C. :
1 Heard learned Prosecutor for the State on this application for leave to file appeal challenging the judgment and order of acquittal of the respondent accused in the matter of offences punishable under Sections 323, 504, 506 of I.P.C. and under Section 3(1)(x) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and under Section 7(1)(d) of Protection of Civil Rights Act.
2 The allegations against the present respondentaccused are that he abused PW4 the complainant on his caste and also assaulted him while said PW4 was working as night watchman in the multiplex owned by the respondent/accused. According to the case of
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Waghmare
27.appln.783.2012
the prosecution this incident of assault and abuse was witnessed by two other witnesses i.e. PW5 and one more person not examined by the prosecution. Said two persons were the associate watchmen working alongwith the complainant. After the incident of assault and abuse and threat of dire consequences, the complainant went to his house and narrated the event to his wife and motherinlaw. Thereafter, he consulted other people of his community and then decided to lodge a complaint mainly for the offence under the Atrocities Act and for the injuries. Then he went to his usual regular medical practitioner who is PW8. Thereafter, he went to the police station for lodging the complaint and on instructions from the police he went to C.P.R. hospital where he was treated by attending doctor PW9.
3 During the trial total 10 witnesses were examined however what weighed with the trial court was the discrepancy and material omissions from the substantive evidence of PW4 and PW5. Also what weighed with trial court was nonexamination of another associate of the complainant i.e. one Shri Atul Desai. Also what weighed with trial court was lack of evidence on the part of PW8 and PW9 so far as the alleged injuries sustained by the complainant PW4. So far the substantive evidence PW8 is concerned, he had not said anything regarding the injuries sustained by the complainant on the ground that he had not brought the original papers and without papers he could not answer. So far as PW9 is concerned, he specifically mentioned that he has not found any physical injuries on
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27.appln.783.2012
the complainant. As such his evidence is also not helpful to the prosecution to establish the injuries on the complainant. This is more, so when it is the case of the complainant PW4 himself that he was beaten for more than half an hour on that night. As against this, another associate PW5 said that the complainant was beaten on that night for about an hour. Noticing this variance in the evidence brought before the Court, the trial court came to the conclusion that prosecution has failed to establish any charges including the charge of abuses on the caste and as such acquitted the respondent accused of all the charges. Considering the substantive evidence of the prosecution witnesses which this court has gone through by the assistance of rival parties, there is nothing to entertain a belief that the order of the trial court is so perverse so as to interfere with while dealing with the appeal against acquittal. In that event, there is nothing to allow the State to file an appeal challenging the acquittal of the respondent. Hence, the application for leave stands dismissed and accordingly disposed of.
(A.R. JOSHI, J.)
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2 issues framed by the court
Whether the application for leave to file appeal challenging the order of acquittal should be allowed given the discrepancy in prosecution evidence.
Whether the trial court's conclusion that the prosecution failed to establish the charges of assault and caste abuse was perverse.
3 provisions across 3 enactments
The State of Maharashtra
Sagar Vishwasrao Shelke
A.R. Joshi
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
