Gujarat High Court
State Of Gujarat vs Baloch Allarankhan Karimkhan on 5 August, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 75 of 2013
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE S.V. PINTO
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Approved for Reporting No
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STATE OF GUJARAT
Versus
BALOCH ALLARANKHAN KARIMKHAN & ORS.
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Appearance:
MS. C.M. SHAH, APP for the Appellant(s) No. 1
APURVA K JANI(7057) for the Opponent(s)/Respondent(s) No. 4
MR MA PAREKH(1088) for the Opponent(s)/Respondent(s) No. 1,2,3
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE S.V. PINTO
Date : 05/08/2025
ORAL JUDGMENT
1. The appeal is filed by the appellant State under Section 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the judgement and order of acquittal passed by the learned Special Judge, Patan (hereinafter referred to as "the learned Trial Court") in Special Atrocity Case No. 51/2011 on 18.10.2012, whereby, the learned Trial Court has acquitted the respondent for the offence punishable under Sections 323, 504 and 506(2) read with Section 114 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 3(1)(10) of Schedule Caste Page 1 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as "the Atrocity Act" for short). 1.1 The respondents are hereinafter referred to as "the accused" in the rank and file as they stood in the original case for the sake of convenience, clarity and brevity.
2. The brief facts that emerge from the record of the case are as under:
2.1 On 17.07.2011 at around 09.30 am, the complainant and witness - Gobarbhai Sawabhai Solanki were standing at the edge of their field and at that time the accused came armed with weapons and got angry and the accused no. 1 caught hold of the complainant and as he had a sword with him and tried to assault the complainant with the sword.
The complainant bent down and he was not injured and the accused no. 1 slapped the complainant. The accused no. 2 had a stick and the accused no. 3 had a scythe and the accused hurled caste slurs and threatened the complainant that if he would step his foot in the field they would kill him. The complainant filed the complaint at the Shankeshwar Police Station under Section 323, 504, 506(2) and 114 of the Page 2 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 3(1)(10) of the Atrocity Act which came to be registered at Shankeshwar Police Station II - C.R. No. 53 of 2011.
2.2 The Investigating Officer recorded the statements of the connected witnesses and seized the necessary documents and after completion of investigation, a charge- sheet came to be filed before the Court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Sami and as the said offences against the accused were exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, the case was committed to the Sessions Court, Patan as per the provisions of Section 209 of Code of Criminal Procedure and the case was registered as Special Atrocity Case No. 51/2011.
2.3 The accused were duly served with the summons and the accused appeared before the learned Trial Court and it was verified whether the copies of all the police papers were provided to the accused as per the provisions of Section 207 of the Code. A charge at Exh. 9 was framed against the accused and the statement of the accused was recorded at Exh. 10, 11 and 12, wherein, the accused denied the Page 3 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined contents of the charge and the entire evidence of the prosecution was taken on record.
2.4 The prosecution examined 7 witnesses and produced 8 documentary evidences on record in support of their case and after the learned Additional Public Prosecutor filed the closing pursis, the further statement of the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was recorded and after the arguments of the learned Additional Public Prosecutor and the learned advocate for the accused were heard, the learned Trial Court by the impugned judgement and order was pleased to acquit all the accused from the charges levelled against them.
3. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the said judgment and order of acquittal, the appellant - State has filed the present appeal mainly stating that the impugned judgment and order of acquittal passed by the learned Trial Court is contrary to law and evidence on record and the learned Trial Court has not appreciated the fact that all the witnesses have supported the case of the prosecution and during the cross-examination, nothing adverse has been Page 4 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined elicited in favor of the respondent. The case has been proved beyond reasonable doubt and the prosecution has successfully established the case against the respondents and the judgment and order of acquittal is unwarranted, illegal, and without any basis in the eyes of the law and the reasons stated while acquitting the respondents are improper, perverse and bad in law. Hence the impugned judgment and order passed by the learned Trial Court deserves to be quashed and set aside.
4. Heard learned APP Ms. C.M. Shah for the appellant State, learned advocate Mr. Sunil Dave for learned advocate Mr. M.A. Parekh for the respondent nos. 1 to 3 and learned advocate Mr. Apurv Jani for the respondent no. 4. Perused the impugned judgement and order of acquittal and have reappreciated the entire evidence of the prosecution on record of the case.
5. Learned APP Ms. C.M. Shah has taken this Court through the entire evidence of the prosecution on record of the case and submitted that the complainant has fully Page 5 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined supported the facts of his complaint. The impugned judgement and order is perverse and learned APP has urged this Court to quash and set aside the same and find the respondent guilty for the offences.
5.1 Learned advocate Mr. Sunil Dave for learned advocate Mr. M.A. Parekh for the respondent nos. 1 to 3 has submitted that the learned Trial Court has appreciated the evidence and passed the impugned judgement and order and no interference is required hence, the appeal may be rejected.
6. The law with regard to acquittal appeals is well crystallized and in acquittal appeals, there is presumption of innocence in favour of the accused and it has finally culminated when a case ends in an acquittal. The learned Trial Court has appreciated all the evidence and when the learned Trial Court has come to a conclusion that the prosecution has not proved the case beyond reasonable doubts, the presumption of innocence in favour of the accused gets strengthened. There is no inhibition to reappreciate the evidence by the Appellate Court but if after Page 6 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined reappreciation, the view taken by the learned Trial Court was a possible view, there is no reason for the Appellate Court to interfere in the same.
7. To bring home the charge against the accused, the prosecution has examined PW1 - Vankar Nanjibhai Ghemarbhai at Exh. 14 is the complainant who has narrated the facts as stated in the complaint. The witness has produced the copy of the complaint at Exh. 15. During the cross examination by the learned advocate for the accused, the complainant has admitted that there is a dispute with the accused about Survey No. 8 paiki 47 which is admeasuring 12 acres of land with the accused. The land is in the name of the accused in the revenue record and after filing of the complaint on 08.10.2011, his wife Amarben has filed a complaint under Sections 354 and 395 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Atrocity Act against the accused. The complainant has admitted that he is residing peacefully in the village and the incident has occurred at the field which is in the name of the accused. That at the time of the incident only he and Gobarbhai were Page 7 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined present and after they went to the field the accused had come and he had seen the accused at a distance of one field away but he did not try to move away from there. 7.1 PW2 - Gobarbhai Savabhai Solanki examined at Exh. 16 is the witness who was with the complainant on the date of the incident. The witness has stated that the accused came and started abusing the complainant and the accused no. 1 tried to hit the complainant with his sword but the complainant bent and was not injured. He intervened and the accused went away and hurled caste slurs against the complainant. During the cross-examination the witness has admitted that the dispute had occurred because of the field which was in the name of the accused.
7.2 PW3 - Rameshbhai Velabhai examined at Exh. 18 and PW4 - Dadubhai Chelabhai examined at Exh. 19 are the panch witnesses of the arrest panchnama which is produced at Exh. 19. Both the witnesses have not supported the case of the prosecution and have been declared hostile.
7.3 PW5 - Bhagwanbhai Narsinhbhai examined at Exh. 21 Page 8 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined is the PSO who has recorded the complaint of the complainant which is produced at Exh. 15. 7.4 PW6 - Tejabhai Punjabhai examined at Exh. 24 is the panch witness of the panchnama of the place of offence which is produced at Exh. 25. The witness has supported the case of the prosecution.
7.5 PW7 - Nanjibhai Savjibhai Ninama examined at Exh. 26 is the Investigating Officer who has narrated the procedure undertaken by him during investigation. The witness has produced the caste certificate of the complainant at Exh. 27. During the cross examination by the learned advocate for the accused the witness has stated that during investigation it was found that there was a dispute regarding the land between the parties and when he went to the place of incident, he did not inquire about the ownership of the field. During cross examination, the copy of the village form no. 8A of the land is produced at Exh. 29 and the copy of the village form no. 7/12 is produced at Exh. 30 and the witness has admitted that in both these documents the name of the accused no. 1 is shown as the Page 9 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined owner of the property.
8. On minute appreciation of the entire evidence of the prosecution, it is on record that there is a dispute between the parties regarding land bearing Survey No. 8 paiki 47 situated in village Tuwad of Sami Taluka, District Patan and the land is in the ownership of the accused. It is the say of the complainant that the land was in his possession but there is no iota of evidence regarding the same and the incident has occurred in the field but there are no witnesses to the incident. As per the case of the complainant, the accused no. 1 had a sword, the accused no. 2 had a stick and the accused no. 3 had a scythe but no weapons have been used by the accused at the time of the offence. It has also emerged on record that the dispute of the land is between the parties and the wife of the complainant - Amarben has also filed a case under Sections 354 and 395 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Atrocity Act against the accused.
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NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined
9. In view of the settled position of law, the learned Trial Court has appreciated the entire evidence in proper perspective and there does not appear to be any infirmity and illegality in the impugned judgment and order of acquittal. The learned Trial Court has appreciated all the evidence and this Court is of the considered opinion that the learned Trial Court was completely justified in acquitting the accused of the charges leveled against them. The findings recorded by the learned Trial Court are absolutely just and proper and no illegality or infirmity has been committed by the learned Trial Court and this Court is in complete agreement with the findings, ultimate conclusion and the resultant order of acquittal recorded by the learned Trial Court. This Court finds no reason to interfere with the impugned judgment and order and the present appeal is devoid of merits and resultantly, the same is dismissed.
10. The impugned judgement and order of acquittal passed by the learned Special Judge, Patan in Special Page 11 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/75/2013 JUDGMENT DATED: 05/08/2025 undefined Atrocity Case No. 51/2011 on 18.10.2012, is hereby confirmed.
11. Bail bond stands cancelled. Record and proceedings be sent back to the concerned Trial Court forthwith.
Sd/-
(S. V. PINTO,J) VASIM S. SAIYED Page 12 of 12 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Fri Aug 08 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Aug 09 00:19:18 IST 2025