Accused cannot be punished on moral suspicion: DB

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 16: Division Bench of the State High Court comprising Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Sanjay Kumar Gupta while setting-aside the life-imprisonment of two real brothers in a murder case has observed that law does not permit the court to punish the accused on basis of moral conviction or suspicion.
The Trial Court has awarded rigorous life-imprisonment and fine of Rs 10,000 each to a cop Rattan Lal and Kashmir Singh, both sons of Sant Ram of Bhaderwah, who committed the murder of their close relative Jia Lal on January 14, 2004 over a trifle issue.
After hearing Advocate Anmol Sharma for the appellant whereas Senior AAG Seema Shekhar appearing for the State, the DB observed, “courts while appreciating the evidence in criminal cases have to see the degree of proof higher than that of civil case. The evidence produced by prosecution should be legally admissible. If there come the slightest doubts regarding the involvement of accused then court should not go on convicting the accused”.
“Every case has its own facts. The law does not permit the court to punish the accused on basis of moral conviction or suspicion .The burden of proof never shift, it is always on prosecution. All the material document in challan have to be proved beyond reasonable doubts, otherwise these are only pieces of papers; all the oral facts relevant to matter in issue have also to be produced like other evidence, otherwise court cannot come to conclusion about guilt of accused”, the DB said.
With these observations, Division Bench set-aside the life-imprisonment and acquitted the accused from the charges.

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