Order of High Court reversing acquittal of appellant-accused and convicted him under S. 302 IPC for murdering his wife in case resting on circumstantial evidence, quashed and set aside. the dead body of an unknown married woman aged about 25 years was lying in a field on the side of the railway track at Ambalgisan Railway Station. The lady appeared to have been murdered by a sharp cutting weapon. On the basis of the aforesaid, Police had begun the investigation. During investigation, it was revealed that the appellant, accompanied his wife (the deceased) and their son had gone to attend the Fullara Mela organised in Lavpur Gram Panchayat and thereafter, the deceased was alleged to be missing from the said Mela. During the investigation, it was also revealed that the appellant had confessed before anick Pal (PW-10), Pravat Kumar Misra (PW-11) and Kanai Ch. Saha (PW-12) that he had murdered the deceased with a bhojali (the murder weapon) at that very spot where the body of the deceased was found. The appellant pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. At the conclusion of the trial, the trial court vide judgment and order dated 31st March 1987 acquitted the appellant from the charges levelled against him. Being aggrieved thereby, the State preferred an appeal before the High Court. By the impugned judgment and order, the High Court allowed the appeal and convicted and sentenced the appellant as aforesaid. It has been held that there is no doubt that conviction can be based on extra-judicial confession, but in the very nature of things, it is a weak piece of evidence. Reliance in this respect could be placed on the judgment of this Court in the case of Sahadevan and Another v. State of Tamil Nadu The scope of interference in an appeal against acquittal is very well crystalised. Unless such a finding is found to be perverse or illegal/impossible, it is not permissible for the appellate Court to interfere with the same. We find that the view taken by the trial court could not be said to be either perverse or illegal/impossible to warrant interference. The High Court has grossly erred in interfering with the well-reasoned judgment and order of acquittal passed by the trial court. Para 23

[Nikhil Chandra Mondal v. State of W.B., (2023) 6 SCC 605]

 

 Case comment: a case in which the High Court reversed the acquittal of the appellant-accused and convicted him for the murder of his wife based on circumstantial evidence. it was also revealed that the appellant had confessed before anick Pal (PW-10), Pravat Kumar Misra (PW-11) and Kanai Ch. Saha (PW-12) that he had murdered the deceased with a bhojali (the murder weapon) at that very spot where the body of the deceased was found. Held that there is no doubt that conviction can be based on extra-judicial confession, but in the very nature of things, it is a weak piece of evidence, the conviction was thus quashed and set aside.

  

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