Gujarat High Court
Dineshkumar Achlanand Rathi vs State Of Gujarat on 22 July, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL APPEAL (AGAINST ACQUITTAL) NO. 604 of 2025
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE S.V. PINTO Sd/-
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Approved for Reporting Yes No
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DINESHKUMAR ACHLANAND RATHI
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ORS.
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Appearance:
D A RATHI(7410) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
PARTY IN PERSON(5000) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
MS CM SHAH, APP for the Opponent(s)/Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE S.V. PINTO
Date : 22/07/2025
ORAL JUDGMENT
1. This appeal has been filed by the appellant - original complainant under Section 413 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as 'the BNSS') against the impugned judgment and the order passed in Criminal Case No.1900409 of 2012 by the learned Additional 35th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ahmedabad City (hereinafter referred to as Page 1 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined 'the learned Trial Court') on 07.02.2025, wherein, the learned Trial Court acquitted the accused for the offence punishable under Sections 294(B), 427, 506(2) and 114 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as 'the IPC').
1.1. The respondents are hereinafter referred to as 'the accused' as they stood in the rank and file in the original case, for the sake of convenience, clarity and brevity.
2. The relevant facts leading to filing of the present appeal are as under:
2.1. The complainant Dineshkumar Achalanand Rathi filed a complaint on 27.03.2012 stating that he is residing at Suramya Apartments, and on 26.03.2012, while he was outside at around 10.30pm, H.V.Bhatt telephoned him and told him that the accused were damaging the wall of the apartment and had threatened to break the hands and legs of the complainant and witnesses H.V.Bhatt and Pratik Ramakant Patel. The complainant filed the complaint being II-C.R.No. 3049 of 2012 with Ghatlodiya Police Station for the offences under sections 427, 506(2) 294(B) and 114 of the IPC.
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NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined 2.2. After registration of the FIR, the investigation was carried out by the concerned Investigating Officer and after having sufficient material against the accused, the chargesheet came to be filed before the concerned jurisdictional Magistrate, which was registered as Criminal Case No. 1900409 of 2012. 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 and a charge was framed by the learned Trial Court at Exh.2 and the plea of the accused was recorded at Exhs. 3 to 5 respectively, wherein, the accused denied all the contents of the charge and the entire evidence of the prosecution was taken on record. The prosecution has examined 03 witnesses and has produced 03 documentary evidences in support of the case. 2.4. After the closing pursis was submitted by the learned APP, the further statements of the accused under Section 313 of the Code were recorded, wherein, the accused denied the evidence produced by the prosecution and stated that a false case has been Page 3 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined registered against them. After hearing the arguments of the learned APP and learned advocate for the accused and after perusing the documents on record, the learned Trial Court, by the impugned judgment and order, has acquitted the accused or the offence punishable under Sections 294(B), 427, 506(2) and 114 of the IPC.
3. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the learned Trial Court, the appellant - original complainant has filed the present appeal mainly stating that the impugned judgment and order passed by learned the Trial Court is totally illegal and bad in law, evidence on record and principles of justice. The learned Trial Court has erred in not considering the statement of witness made before the Investigating Officer and confirmed the incident took place at the place of the complainant. The learned Trial Court has misinterpreted the legal position of law and has not properly appreciated the oral as well as documentary evidence on record in its true spirit. The learned Trial Court has erroneously came to the conclusion that the prosecution has failed to prove the case beyond Page 4 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined reasonable doubt. The impugned judgment and order of acquittal passed by the learned Trial Court is illegal, invalid, improper, perverse and bad in law and the same deserves to be quashed and set aside.
4. Heard the appellant - Dineshkumar Achaldas Rathi who appeared in-person and learned APP Ms.C.M.Shah for the respondent - State. Perused the impugned judgment and order of acquittal and have re-appreciated the entire evidence of the prosecution on record of the case.
5. The appellant - Dineshkumar Achaldas Rathi has taken this Court through the entire evidence produced by the prosecution and has vehemently argued that the learned Trial Court has not appreciated the evidence properly and the prosecution has produced cogent evidence to prove the the case and has successfully proved the case against the accused but the learned Trial Court has not considered the same and has acquitted the accused. The judgment and order of acquittal passed by learned Trial Court is contrary to law, evidence on record and principles of justice. The appellant - Dineshkumar Achaldas Rathi Page 5 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined has urged this Court to quash and set aside the impugned judgment and order of acquittal and to find the accused guilty for the said offence and impose maximum sentence on the accused. 5.1. Learned APP Ms.C.M.Shah for the respondent - State has adopted the arguments of the appellant - Dineshkumar Achaldas Rathi and has submitted that appropriate order may be passed.
6. At the outset, before discussing the facts of the present case, it would be appropriate to refer to the observations of the Apex Court in the case of Chandrappa & Ors. Vs. State of Karnataka reported in 2007 (4) SCC 415, the Apex Court has observed as under:
Recently, in Kallu Vs. State of M.P. (2006) 10 SCC 313 :
AIR 2006 SC 831, this Court stated; "While deciding an appeal against acquittal, the power of the Appellate Court is no less than the power exercised while hearing appeals against conviction. In both types of appeals, the power exists to review the entire evidence. However, one significant difference is that an order of acquittal will not be interfered with, by an appellate court, where the judgment of the trial court is based on evidence and the view taken is reasonable and plausible. It will not reverse the decision of the trial court merely because a different view is possible. The appellate court will also bear in mind that there is a presumption of innocence in favour of the accused and the accused is entitled to get the benefit of any doubt. Further if it decides to interfere, it should assign reasons for differing with the Page 6 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined decision of the trial court". (emphasis supplied) ........ From the above decisions, in our considered view, the following general principles regarding powers of appellate Court while dealing with an appeal against an order of acquittal emerge;] (1) An appellate Court has full power to review, reappreciate and reconsider the evidence upon which the order of ac- quittal is founded;
(2) The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 puts no limitation, restriction or condition on exercise of such power and an appellate Court on the evidence before it may reach its own conclusion, both on questions of fact and of law; (3) Various expressions, such as, 'substantial and compelling reasons', 'good and sufficient grounds', 'very strong cir-
cumstances', 'distorted conclusions', 'glaring mistakes', etc. are not intended to curtail extensive powers of an ap- pellate Court in an appeal against acquittal. Such phrase- ologies are more in the nature of 'flourishes of language' to emphasize the reluctance of an appellate Court to in- terfere with acquittal than to curtail the power of the Court to review the evidence and to come to its own con- clusion.
(4) An appellate Court, however, must bear in mind that in case of acquittal, there is double presumption in favour of the accused. Firstly, the presumption of innocence avail- able to him under the fundamental principle of criminal jurisprudence that every person shall be presumed to be innocent unless he is proved guilty by a competent court of law. Secondly, the accused having secured his acquit- tal, the presumption of his innocence is further rein- forced, reaffirmed and strengthened by the trial court. (5) If two reasonable conclusions are possible on the basis of the evidence on record, the appellate court should not disturb the finding of acquittal recorded by the trial court.
7. It is a settled principle of law that in an appeal against acquittal, the Appellate Court is circumscribed by limitation that Page 7 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined no interference has to be made in the order of acquittal unless after appreciation of the evidence produced before the Trial Court, it appears that there are some manifest illegality of perversity which could not have been possibly arrived at by the Court. It is also a settled principle that there is no embargo on the Appellate Court to review the evidence but, generally the order of acquittal shall not be interfered with as the presumption of innocence of the accused is further strengthened by the order of 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 of the prosecution i.e. (i) guilt of the accused and (ii) his innocence, the view, which is in favour of the accused, should be adopted, and if the trial Court has taken the view in favour of the accused, the Appellate Court should not disturb the findings of the acquittal. The Appellate Court can interfere with the judgment and order of acquittal only when there are compelling and substantial reasons and the order is clearly unreasonable and where the Appellate Court comes to conclusion that based on the evidence, the conviction is a must. Page 8 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined
8. The complainant Dineshkumar Achalanand Rathi has been examined at Exh.10, and admittedly, he is not an eye witness to the incident and the complaint has been filed on 27.03.2012, whereas, the incident has occurred on 26.03.2012. The complainant, in the examination-in-chief, has narrated the facts as stated in the complaint and has stated that he has not produced any evidence about the ownership of the house to the Investigating Agency and there is an open space in front of his flat. That he was informed on the telephone about the incident by H.V.Bhatt and he is not an eye witness to the incident and as he is not an eye witness to the incident, he cannot say with certainty whether the accused had abused anyone. The complaint has been filed on the next day and in his examination in chief, he has stated that there was a damage of Rs.20,000/-, but in the complaint, it is stated that the damage was up to Rs.2,000/-, but he cannot say as to who had caused the damage and he was not present at the time of the incident.
8.1. PW-2 Premjibhai Mokabhai Patel has been examined at Exh.12 and the witness has stated that on 26.03.2012, while he was Page 9 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined working in the Inway Squad at the Ghatlodiya Police Station, he got the information in the Ghatlodiya mobile about a quarrel at 'Suramya Apartment' and he went to the spot and the complaint was filed by the complainant on the next day. That he had arrested the accused but he did not draw any panchnama of the place of offence and there are no photographs about the place of incident. That no evidence about the wall that was damaged was collected during investigation and no statements of any independent witnesses were recorded during investigation. 8.2. PW-3 Pratikbhai Ramakant Patel examined at Exh.13, as per the case of the prosecution, was also a resident of 'Suramya Apartment' and an eye witness to the incident. The witness has stated that in the year 2012-13, the renovation of his flat in 'Suramya Apartment' was going on and he was residing on rent in 'Abhinandan Apartment'. That while he was at home, Priyavadanbhai telephoned his father and informed him that some destruction was going on in 'Suramya Apartment'. He went to 'Suramya Apartment' between 11:00 and 12:00 hours at night and saw that the wall was damaged and the outside tiles were also Page 10 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined damaged. They went to the Ghatlodiya Police Station and filed the complaint regarding an altercation at 'Suramya Apartment', but he does not recognize anyone, who was present and who caused the damage. The witness has not supported the case of the prosecution and has been declared hostile and during the cross-examination by the learned advocate for the accused, the witness has stated that he does not know the persons, who had the verbal altercation and he did not file any complaint as he is not an eye witness to the incident.
9. On minute appreciation of the entire evidence of the prosecution, the complainant has filed a complaint but he is not an eye witness to the incident and the only eyewitness to the incident is PW-3 Pratikbhai Ramakant Patel examined at Exh.13, who has not supported the case of the prosecution and has been declared hostile. Admittedly, the offence, as per the complaint, has occurred in the residential area at night and there were other residents of the flats, but the prosecution has not examined any independent witness to the incident. There is nothing on record to show that the incident has occurred as the complainant is not an eye witness to Page 11 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined the incident and he has admitted that he was informed about the incident through H.V.Bhatt, but said H.V.Bhatt has not been examined as a witness before the learned Trial Court. The only witness PW3, Pratikbhai, Ramakhanbhai Patel has not supported the case of the prosecution and there is no iota of evidence that the incident has ever occurred as narrated by the complainant in the complaint.
10. In view of the above, the 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 Trial Court has appreciated all the evidence and this Court is of the considered opinion that the Trial Court was completely justified in acquitting the accused of the charges leveled against them. The findings recorded by the Trial Court are absolutely just and proper and no illegality or infirmity has been committed by the trial Court and this Court is in complete agreement with the findings, ultimate conclusion and the resultant order of acquittal recorded by the Trial Court. This Court finds no reason to interfere with the impugned judgment Page 12 of 13 Uploaded by F.S. KAZI(HC01075) on Thu Jul 24 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 24 23:09:39 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/604/2025 JUDGMENT DATED: 22/07/2025 undefined and order and the present appeal is devoid of merits and resultantly, the same is dismissed at the stage of admission.
11. The impugned judgment and the order passed in Criminal Case No.1900409 of 2012 by the learned Additional 35 th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ahmedabad City on 07.02.2025 is hereby confirmed.
12. Bail bond stands cancelled. Record and proceedings be sent back to the concerned Trial Court forthwith.
Sd/-
(S. V. PINTO,J) F.S.KAZI.....
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