- (1.) The present criminal appeal arises from of the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court of Kerala in Criminal Appeal No. 1768 of 2005 dated 05.11.2009, wherein the High Court reversed the judgment and order passed by the Additional District and Sessions Judge (Ad-Hoc) No. II, Manjeri dated 02.06.2005 acquitting the accused-appellants. The High Court set aside the same and convicted and sentenced the appellants. The appellants have questioned the correctness of the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court, urging various legal grounds.
(2.) Our attention was drawn to the judgment and orders passed by the both the High Court and the Trial Court by the learned senior counsel appearing for the parties in justification of their respective submissions. Mr. Siddharth Luthra, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants invited our attention to the findings recorded by the High Court in the impugned judgment and submits that High Court held that the findings and reasons recorded by the Trial Court are erroneous in law and accordingly in exercise of its appellate jurisdiction, re-appreciated the evidence on record and came to a different conclusion than the Trial Court. It is submitted that the same is contrary to the factual and legal evidence on record and therefore, the High Court has erred in law in reversing the findings recorded by the Trial Court on the charges levelled against the appellants as the same is contrary to the principles of law laid down by various judgments of this Court.
(3.) The learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants further contends that the High Court, after re-appreciation of the evidence on record has reversed the finding of acquittal which is not correct, for the reason that the evidence of PW-2, who was also severely injured in the incident cannot be relied upon to convict the appellants. It is submitted that though PW-2 was admitted to the hospital on the night of the incident along with the deceased, he did not disclose the names of the accused persons who were involved in the commission of the offence to the Investigation Officer. It is further submitted that the statement of PW-2 under Section 161 of Cr.P.C. was recorded by the Investigation Officer after 10 days from his discharge from the hospital, by which time, the accused persons had already been apprehended.;