Trial Court Records Missing: Allahabad High Court Acquits Man In 1982 Case
Image : Zia Rizvi
The Allahabad High Court recently acquitted the sole surviving appellant/accused in a 42-year-old case after it received a report from the District Judge, Ballia, that the entire record of the case had been weeded out and the reconstruction of the same was impossible.
A bench of Justice Nalin Kumar Srivastava passed this order while hearing an appeal filed by Shri Ram Singh against the conviction judgment and four-year imprisonment passed by a session court of Ballia in September 1982.
Essentially, the trial court had convicted him in connection with a case of murder and destruction of evidence. The appellant was convicted under Section 201 IPC (causing the disappearance of evidence of an offence or giving false information to screen the offender).
The appeal pertained to the appellant's conviction concerning murder and destruction of evidence case. A sessions court had sentenced Ram Singh to four years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 201 of IPC (causing the disappearance of evidence of an offence or giving false information to screen the offender).
In his appeal, the prosecution admitted that reconstruction of the record is not possible, and no other record except the impugned judgment and order of the trial court is available. The district court also sent a report in this regard.
Taking into account the circumstances of the case, the Court referred to various judgments of the High Court as well as of the Top Court to note that if the substantial portion of trial court record is not available before the Appellate Court, an endeavour should be made firstly for the reconstruction of the record and if only reconstruction is not possible to facilitate the High Court to hear and dispose of the appeal, then possibility should be looked into for the retrial of the case and if due to the loss of vital and basic records of the trial court retrial and fresh adjudication of the matter is not possible, then in that case the impugned judgment and order should not be permitted to operate and the matter shall stand closed.
Hence, noting that nothing remains in this appeal, the Court found that the conviction order cannot be sustained because vital and essential basic records are not available.
Thus, finding no other alternative in these circumstances, the Court allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction and sentence of the appellant and acquitted the appellant.
Case title - Shri Ram Singh vs. State
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