In the case titled as Union of India & Ors. v Dafadar Kartar Singh & Anr., the Respondent was tried for a civil offense of house breaking and was found guilty of charge and was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for seven months by Summary Court Martial.
Later, on appeal his conviction was set aside by the Armed Forces Tribunal, Regional Bench, Chandigarh (“Tribunal”).
The brief facts are intruder broke into Smt. Sudesh’s house while she was sleeping. She heard some sound of breaking of a bottle and noticed the movement of a person. She could see the intruder in the light of the bedroom when he walked up towards the door of bedroom. Later, when people gathered outside the house, she immediately recognized the intruder standing along with other people and pointed that he was the one who broke into her house.
The decision of Tribunal to acquit the accused was due to contradictions in statement and evidence of Smt. Sudesh. On appeal before Supreme Court Bench comprising of Justice Nageswar Rao and Justice Hemant Gupta observed that, “The judgments of acquittal may be reversed or otherwise disturbed only for very substantial and compelling reasons.”
Supreme Court cited its decision in Ghurey Lal v. State of U.P. [(2008) 10 SCC 450] where it held that very substantial and compelling reasons exist when the trial court has ignored the evidence or misread the material evidence or has ignored material documents like dying declarations/ report of the ballistic expert, etc.
Apex Court in the present case came to the conclusion that the Tribunal failed to consider the testimonies of people who spoke about the incidence; there was no contradictions in their statement. Other material on record like photographs was also ignored by the Tribunal. It thus, set aside the judgement of Tribunal and restored the order passed in Summary Court Martial.
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