High Court Upholds Acquittal Where Evidence Is Conflicting — Jaipur Bench Confirms Trial Court Finding
Case Title: State of Rajasthan v. Ramkesh & Mukesh — D.B. Criminal Leave to Appeal No. 146/2024.
Date of Judgment: 11 December 2025.
The facts of the case, as recorded by the trial court, relate to an incident on 20 September 2014 near a water tank at Lavana in which the deceased, Krishna Kumar, allegedly suffered injuries after an altercation and a subsequent vehicle impact. The prosecution case, set out in the police report and charge sheet, accused the respondents of causing grievous injuries and of an overt act of running the deceased down by hitting him with a Bolero vehicle (bearing registration ARJ-14-Y-5017) and assault by companions, allegations which ultimately led to investigation under sections 323, 307 and 302/34 IPC. The trial court framed and examined charges and, after trial, recorded an order of acquittal on 29 March 2023.
The trial court’s judgment, as reproduced in the record, proceeded from an analysis of the ocular testimony, documentary material and medical reports relied upon by prosecution and defence. The court found divergences in the statements of prosecution witnesses, delays and discrepancies in reporting the incident to police, and material differences between various eyewitness accounts about the sequence of events, the role of the accused, and whether the vehicle impact as alleged was a deliberate act. The trial court also examined medical evidence and the injury pattern, and considered whether those materials compelled the conclusion of homicidal intent or guilty participation beyond reasonable doubt.
On appeal by the State through a petition for leave, the High Court undertook a re-appreciation of the oral and documentary evidence within the narrow compass permitted on appeals against acquittal. The Bench reviewed witness depositions, the medical record and attendant circumstances, noting contradictions in key witnesses’ versions about timing, the nature of blows, presence and role of the accused at the spot, and the sequence between an altercation and the vehicle event. The Court observed that several prosecution witnesses gave differing accounts regarding whether the deceased was assaulted first, whether the Bolero struck the deceased intentionally, and whether the accused were driving the vehicle that allegedly caused the injuries.
The High Court also engaged with the medical evidence and the contents of injury reports; while injuries and hospital records were on the file, the Bench recorded that the medical report did not, by itself, conclusively establish the prosecution’s pleaded narrative of deliberate homicide by vehicle impact. The Court further noted the trial court’s legitimate evaluation of delays in lodging the report, discrepancies about immediate police attendance, and the absence of convincing contemporaneous corroboration that linked the accused to the fatal result in a manner that excluded all reasonable doubt.
In applying principles governing appellate interference with acquittal orders, the Bench relied upon the well-settled tests reflected in recent precedents, including the requirement that an appellate court should not overturn an acquittal unless the trial court’s view is perverse, based on misreading or omission of material evidence, or where no two reasonable views are possible and the only possible conclusion on the record is guilt. On re-appreciation, the High Court found that the trial court’s view was a possible view legitimately open on the evidence and that there was no patent perversity or omission warranting reversal.
Concluding its examination, the Jaipur Bench held that the trial court’s acquittal suffered from no legal or factual infirmity sufficient to grant the State leave to appeal. The petition for leave to appeal was accordingly refused and the order of acquittal dated 29 March 2023 was affirmed; a copy of this decision was directed to be sent to the trial court for information.
