Supreme Court quashes Madhya Pradesh High Court order that set aside acquittal based on conjectures

The Supreme Court on Tuesday took exception to the cursory manner in which the Madhya Pradesh High Court set aside a trial court's well-reasoned decision to acquit the accused in a murder case [Ballu vs State of Madhya Pradesh]..A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta stated that it is settled law that trial court orders cannot be interfered with only on the ground that another view is possible."This elaborate exercise of the learned trial Judge, has been washed away by the learned Division Bench of the High Court in a totally cursory manner ... We are of the view that the High Court has totally erred in observing that the trial Judge had brushed aside the evidence of the IO [Investigating Officer] simply on the basis of conjectures and surmises. Rather, it is the judgment of the High Court which is based on conjectures and surmises," the Supreme Court opined. .The bench was hearing an appeal challenging the High Court's decision to convict and sentence two men to life imprisonment in a murder case.The High Court had set aside a trial court order acquitting both men.The Supreme Court in its judgment overturned the High Court's conviction and restored the trial court's decision to acquit both the accused men."The learned trial Judge has done a very elaborate exercise of discussing the evidence in great detail ... We have no hesitation to hold that the findings of the learned trial Judge are based on correct appreciation of the material placed on record ... no perversity or impossibility could be found in the approach adopted by the learned trial Judge," the top court said. .The Supreme Court found that the High Court's views to the contrary were completely based on conjectures and surmises."At the cost of repetition, we are compelled to say that the findings of the High Court are totally based on conjectures and surmises. Though the High Court has referred to the law laid down by this Court with regard to the scope of interference in an appeal against acquittal, the High Court has totally misapplied the same and a very well-reasoned judgment based upon the correct appreciation of evidence by the trial Court has been reversed by the High Court, only on the basis of conjectures and surmises," the top court said..The appeal was, thus, allowed and the two appellants were acquitted of all charges..Advocates Varun Thakur, Ramkaran, Shraddha Saran, Brajesh Pandey and Varinder Kumar Sharma appeared for the accused (appellants).Advocates Pashupathi Nath Razdan, Vikas Bansal, Mirza Kayesh Begg, Maitreyee Jagat Joshi, Astik Gupta, Akanksha Tomar, Argha Roy, Ojaswini Gupta and Ruby appeared for the State of Madhya Pradesh..[Read Judgment]