Criminal appeal against conviction under Section 58 of the Abkari Act for possession of arrack. The High Court of Kerala set aside the conviction and acquitted the appellant due to unreliable identification by prosecution witnesses who lacked prior acquaintance.
The conviction and sentence of the appellant are set aside and the appellant is acquitted.
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.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT:
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE B.KEMAL PASHA
MONDAY, THE 29TH DAY OF AUGUST 2016/7TH BHADRA, 1938
CRL.A.No. 765 of 2009 (A)
SC 196/2007 OF ADDITIONAL SESSIONS COURT (FAST TRACK-III, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DATED 04-03-2009
APPELLANT(S)/2ND ACCUSED:
REGHUVARAN, S/O.VASUDEVA PANICKER, PRIVANJAIL BHAVAN,KOTTAYCHAKOM MURI, ARYANAD VILLAGE, NEDUMANGAD TALUK.
BY ADVS.SRI.T.A.UNNIKRISHNAN SRI.K.SATHEESH KUMAR
RESPONDENT(S)/COMPLAINANT:
STATE OF KERALA, PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM.
BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SMT.MAYA
THIS CRIMINAL APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 29-08-2016, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
PJ
B. KEMAL PASHA, J.
Crl. Appeal No.765 of 2009
Dated this the 29th day of August, 2016
J U D G M E N T
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Appellant is the 2nd accused in SC No.196/2007
of the Additional Sessions Court, Adhoc-III, Thiruvananthapuram, who stands convicted under Section 58 of the Abkari Act and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay a fine of ₹1 lakh, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for six months.
Crl.A.765/2009
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cans, each containing 22 litres of arrack. On seeing PW1 and PW2, the appellant ran away from the spot, after leaving the contraband. PW1 and PW2 could catch A1 red handed. Thereafter, information was passed on to PW4 Excise Inspector. PW4 along with PW3 went to the spot.
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filed the complaint.
the appellant was not properly identified. It has also been argued that there is absolutely nothing to show that PW1 and PW2, who allegedly had an occasion to see the appellant on the forest road, had no previous acquaintance with the appellant and, therefore, the identification of the
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appellant by PW1 and PW2 cannot be believed.
out that the person, who was present along with A1, had ran away from the spot on seeing PW1 and PW2. Either PW1 or PW2 has no case in their chief examination that they had any previous acquaintance with the appellant. PW1 in cross-examination also, has deposed that he had not narrated any of the identification features of the appellant. At the same time, PW2 in cross-examination has stated that he had prior acquaintance with the appellant. At the same time, it has been conceded by him that such a statement was not furnished by him before the investigating officer. From the evidence of PW1 as well as the evidence in the chief examination of PW2, it has clearly come out that they could gather the information regarding the identity of the person, who had ran away from the spot, from A1. They had no case that they had prior acquaintance with the appellant
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or that they could recognise the appellant as the person who was present along with A1.
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conviction and sentence passed by the court below as against the appellant are liable to be set aside.
In the result, this Criminal Appeal is allowed and the conviction and sentence passed by the court below as against the appellant alone are set aside. The appellant is acquitted.
Sd/- (B.KEMAL PASHA, JUDGE)
aks/29/08
// True Copy //
PA to Judge
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the conviction and sentence of the 2nd accused should be upheld or set aside.
Whether the identification of the appellant by the prosecution witnesses is reliable.
Whether there was evidence to establish that the appellant carried contraband.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
REGHUVARAN
STATE OF KERALA
B.KEMAL PASHA
PASHA
J.
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
