Gujarat High Court
State Of Gujarat vs Bharatbhai Rupaji Dabhi on 16 July, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 687 of 2011
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
BHARATBHAI RUPAJI DABHI & ORS.
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Appearance:
MS. C.M. SHAH, APP for the Appellant(s) No. 1
MR GAURANG K PATEL(2613) for the Opponent(s)/Respondent(s) No.
1,2,3,4
MR VASHISTHA M JOSHI(8972) for the Opponent(s)/Respondent(s) No. 5
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE S.V. PINTO
Date : 16/07/2025
ORAL JUDGMENT
1. The appeal is filed by the appellant State under Section 378(1)(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the judgement and order of acquittal passed by the learned Special Judge, City Sessions Court, Ahmedabad (hereinafter referred to as "the learned Trial Court") in Special Case Atro No. 19/2009 on 25.11.2010, whereby, the learned Trial Court has acquitted the respondents for the offence punishable under Sections 323, 324, 294-B, 506(1) Page 1 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined and 114 of Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section 135(1) of the B.P. Act and Section 3(1)(10) of Schedule Caste 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 29.04.2008, at around 21.25 hours, the complainant - Kiranbhai Praveenbhai Srimali was passing by the Darga opposite Gheekanta Doodhwadi Poll and all the accused got together and as they had a score to settle regarding the dispute on 27.04.2008, hurled caste slurs against the complainant and assaulted the complainant and the accused no. 1 hit the complainant on his face with his fist, the accused no. 2 brought an iron pipe from his house and hit it on the right side head of the complainant and the accused nos. 3 and 4 beat the complainant with fists. All the accused abused the complainant and threatened to kill Page 2 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined him and the complainant filed the complaint at the Shahpur Police Station under Sections 324, 294(B), 506(1) and 114 of the Indian Penal Code Section 135(1) of the B.P. Act and Section 3(1)(10) of the Atrocity Act which was registered at Shahpur Police Station I - C.R. No. 68 of 2008. 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 learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Ahmedabad and as the said offences against the accused were exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, the case was committed to the Sessions Court, Ahmedabad as per the provisions of Section 209 of Code of Criminal Procedure and the case was registered as Special Atrocity Case No. 19/2009.
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. 4 was framed against the Page 3 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined accused and the statements of the accused was recorded at Exhs. 5 to 8 wherein, the accused denied the contents of the charge and the entire evidence of the prosecution was taken on record.
2.4 The prosecution examined 12 witnesses and produced 6 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 Page 4 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined witnesses have supported the case of the prosecution and during the cross-examination, nothing adverse has been elicited in favor of the respondents. 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 respondent 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. Gaurang Patel for the respondent nos. 1 to 4 and learned advocate Mr. Vashishtha Joshi for the respondent no. 5. 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 and learned advocate Mr. Vashishtha Joshi for the respondent no. 5 have taken this Page 5 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined Court through the entire evidence of the prosecution on record of the case and have jointly submitted that the complainant has fully 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.
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 regarding the scope of interference in acquittal appeals in the case of Chandrappa & Ors. Vs. State of Karnataka reported in 2007 (4) SCC 415, wherein, the Apex Court has observed as under:
Recently, in Kallu Vs. State of M.P. (2006) 10 SCC 313, 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.Page 6 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined 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 decision of the trial court".
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 acquittal 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 circumstances', 'distorted conclusions', 'glaring mistakes', etc. are not intended to curtail extensive powers of an appellate Court in an appeal against acquittal. Such phraseologies are more in the nature of 'flourishes of language' to emphasize the reluctance of an appellate Court to interfere with acquittal than to curtail the power of the Court to review the evidence and to come to its own conclusion. (4) An appellate Court, however, must bear in mind Page 7 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined that in case of acquittal, there is double presumption in favour of the accused. Firstly, the presumption of innocence available 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 acquittal, the presumption of his innocence is further reinforced, 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. 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 re appreciate the evidence by the Appellate Court but if after re appreciation, the view taken by the learned Trial Court Page 8 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined was a possible view, there is no reason for the Appellate Court to interfere in the same.
8. In light of the above settled principle of law, the evidence of the prosecution is dissected and the prosecution has examined the complainant - Kiranbhai Praveenbhai Srimali at Exh. 10 and the witness is the complainant who has fully supported the complaint which is produced at Exh. 11. The complainant has stated that after he was assaulted, he was lying on the ground and bleeding from his mouth and forehead, and thereafter he got up and wore his slippers and started going towards Ahmedabad College where five to seven boys of his street met him and they called the 108 ambulance and the Shahpur Police Station and he was taken to V.S. Hospital for treatment where he was discharged from the hospital at around 02.00 am after treatment. The complainant has produced the complaint at Exh. 11 and xerox copy of his caste certificate. During the cross examination by the learned advocate for the accused the witness has admitted that he knew the accused from before as they were residing Page 9 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined in the same area and hence, could identify them. That he was conscious when he went to the hospital for treatment and Ghee Kanta Police Chowki is very near from Kothi Mohalla. The witness has stated that his clothes were stained with blood but his mother had washed his clothes, and his mother and one Rajnibhai had come to V.S. Hospital but he had not gone to the police table at V.S. Hospital. The witness has also admitted that he had received an amount of Rs. 6,250/- as compensation. 8.1 PW2 - Ramanlal Channalal Parmar examined at Exh. 16 and PW3 - Narendra Mafatlal Solanki examined at Exh. 18 are the panch witnesses of the panchnama of the place of offence which is produced at Exh. 17. Both the witnesses have not supported the case of the prosecution and have been declared hostile and cross examined at length by the learned APP.
8.2 PW4 - Ashokbhai Premjibhai Solanki examined at Exh. 19 and PW5 - Rajeshbhai Ishwarlal Solanki examined at Exh. 21 are the panch witnesses of the arrest panchnama by which the accused were arrested which is Page 10 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined produced at Exh. 20. Both the witnesses have not supported the case of the prosecution and have been declared hostile and during the lengthy cross examination by the learned APP, nothing to support the case of the prosecution has come on record.
8.3 PW6 - Narendrabhai Kevaldas Srimali examined at Exh. 30 has stated that he is known to the complainant as he is residing above the house of the complainant. On the date of the incident, he had his dinner and had come outside at night and he was informed that the complainant had a dispute and he went and saw a crowd of people there and all the four accused were assaulting him. They were very angry and he did not try to intervene but he went home and called everyone and at that time he saw the complainant coming from towards Ahmedabad College and he was bleeding. They took him to V.S. Hospital and he was discharged early in the morning. He does not know the reason why the quarrel had taken place and the witness has identified all the accused before the learned Trial Court. During the cross-examination the witness has stated that Page 11 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined he is residing in Kotiwas since birth and on the day prior to the incident there was a procession and while the procession was going passing by Kotiwas Street, there was some dispute but he does not know anything about the dispute. The witness has stated that for the first time he has stated before the learned Trial Court that he had seen the accused assaulting the complainant. 8.4 PW7 - Mahendra Shantilal Makwana examined at Exh. 31 is an eyewitness as per the case of the prosecution but in his deposition before the learned Trial Court he has not supported the case of the prosecution and has categorically stated that he did not see any of the accused assaulting the complainant. The witness has been declared hostile and has been cross-examined at length by the learned APP but nothing to support the case of the prosecution that the witness was an eyewitness to the incident has come on record.
8.5 PW8 - Rajinikanth Laljibhai Mewada examined at Exh. 32 has stated that the incident had occurred on 29.09.2004 and he does not know what had taken place as he was at Page 12 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined home. The complainant Kiranbhai came home in a bleeding condition and they called the 108 ambulance and took him to V.S. Hospital. He was bleeding from his mouth and the police had recorded a statement at V.S. Hospital. The witness has denied that the accused had assaulted the complainant and has stated that he does not know the accused.
8.6 PW9 - Kantaben Praveenbhai Shrimali examined at Exh. 33 is the mother of the complainant and she too has stated that she does not know who had assaulted her son that he was injured and he was taken to V.S. Hospital. 8.7 The prosecution has examined PW10 - Maqsood Ahmedkhan Umarkhan Pathan at Exh. 37 and the witness was working as the Second Police Inspector at Shahpur Police Station and he had recorded the complaint of the complainant which is produced at Exh. 11. During the cross examination the witness has stated that the caste certificate of the complainant is necessary while filing a complaint under the Atrocity Act but the complainant did Page 13 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined not produce his caste certificate at the time of filing of the complaint.
8.8 PW11 - Lavjibhai Kanabhai Pranami examined at Exh. 40 is the Investigating Officer who has deposed the procedure undertaken by him during investigation. During the cross examination the witness has stated that when he had received the papers for investigation, there was no caste certificate in the papers and he had got the caste certificate of the complainant which is produced at Exh. 34 but the certificate has not been certified by anyone. The place of offence is a public place and is frequented by a number of persons and there are a number of residences and shops at that at the place of incident and he has not investigated about whether the complainant has filed a complaint against the residents of Goswami Na Vanda. 8.9 PW12 - Ravjibhai Lagarbhai Chavda examined at Exh. 41 is the Investigating Officer who had recorded the statement of Mahendra Shantibhai Makwana and during the cross examination he has admitted that the Page 14 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined complainant did not produce his caste certificate at the time of filing the complaint.
9. One minute appreciation of the entire evidence of the prosecution, the incident has occurred on 30.04.2008 and there are no eyewitnesses to the incident who have supported the case of the prosecution. Admittedly, in the evidence it has emerged that the incident has occurred at a public place and there are residences and shops at that place and the place is frequented by a number of persons but no independent witnesses have been examined by the prosecution. The PW6 - Narendrabhai Kevaldas Srimali is an eyewitness as per the case of the prosecution but he has stated that he went to the place of offence when he saw the accused assaulting the complainant but as they were angry he did not intervene and during the cross examination he has stated the fact that he was an eyewitness for the first time. As per the case of the prosecution, after the incident the complainant was taken to V.S. Hospital for treatment but the Medical Officer who has treated the complainant has not been examined before the learned Trial Court but Page 15 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined the medical certificate has been produced at Exh. 35. If the document produced at Exh. 35 is perused it is the injury certificate of Sheth Vadilal Sarabhai General Hospital and Sheth Chinai Maternity Hospital, Ahmedabad dated 06.06.2008 and it states that the patient Kiran Praveenbhai Srimali was brought to the hospital on 29.04.2008 at 10.10 pm and was treated as an OPD Case. In the history, the witness has stated that he was beaten by opposite party and he had a 3 cm x 0.5 cm abrasion on inner aspect of upper lip, 4 cm x 3 cm swelling on Right TM Joint and tenderness was present. The Medical Officer has not been examined and it has also emerged on record that the caste certificate of the complainant was not produced at the time of filing of the complaint but it has come on record in the deposition of the Investigating Officer. All the evidence on record of the prosecution has been appreciated in detail by the learned Trial Court.
10. In view of the settled position of law in the decisions of Chandrappa (supra), the learned Trial Court has appreciated the entire evidence in proper perspective and Page 16 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.A/687/2011 JUDGMENT DATED: 16/07/2025 undefined 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.
11. The impugned judgement and order of acquittal passed by the learned Special Judge, City Sessions Court, Ahmedabad in Special Case Atro No. 19/2009 on 25.11.2010 is hereby confirmed.
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12. Bail bond stands cancelled. Record and proceedings be sent back to the concerned Trial Court forthwith.
(S. V. PINTO,J) VASIM S. SAIYED Page 18 of 18 Uploaded by VASIM SHABBIR SAIYED(HC01902) on Thu Jul 17 2025 Downloaded on : Thu Jul 17 22:11:46 IST 2025