1984 Attempt To Murder Case | Allahabad High Court Upholds Acquittal Of Accused In Absence Of Trial Court Records

This incident occurred in 1984, and the sole living accused was acquitted in March 1987. Subsequently, the State Government preferred an appeal to the HC that year.

The case records were called for, but unfortunately, they could not be made available to this Court. Diligent efforts were made to reconstruct the record; however, the process was unsuccessful.

Given this, noting that about 36 years have passed since acquittal under challenge, which is a long gap, a bench of Justice Sangeeta Chandra and Justice Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I, while upholding the acquittal of the accused, observed thus:

“…now, no paper relating to this case is available except the impugned judgement, therefore possibility of retrial at this stage, after a long gap of about 36 years since the occurrence of the incident appears to be bleak”.

The prosecution case was that the accused, Phool Chand and Hirdai Narain (respondent-accused), nourished a grudge towards the informant, and upon seeing the informant alone, the accused persons assaulted the informant with a Danda. The informant sustained injuries on his left hand, right leg and forehead.

In1987, the Trial Court acquitted the accused, noting that the prosecution failed to provide evidence supporting its case.

The Government moved an appeal against the acquittal before the HC. However, in July 2022, the then-District Judge (Lucknow) sent a report stating that the entire record of the Sessions Trial had been weeded out and that only the original judgment was available on the record.

Taking into account the report of the District Judge, Lucknow, the Court observed that for deciding the appeal, a perusal of the record of the trial court is necessary and if the record is not available and reconstruction of the record is also not possible, then following two courses are open to the appellate court:-

(i). To order for re-trial after setting aside the conviction; or,

ii). If there is a long gap, then close the matter for want of record, as the retrial will also not serve any purpose as the relevant documents are not available.

However, noting that no paper relating to this case is available except the impugned judgement, and the retrial is impossible, the Court upheld the acquittal and dismissed the Government's appeal.

Appearances

Counsel for Respondent: Pawan Kumar Tiwari, Pranjal Krishna

Case title - State of U.P. vs. Hirdai Narain And Others 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 289

Case Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 289

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