Much water has flown: HC denies approval to retry those acquitted

An accused who has already been acquitted should not be subjected to retrial, especially after prolonged prosecution and full disclosure of defence before the trial court, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled.

The Bench held that such retrial would prejudice the accused’s rights and would be against judicial propriety as it would extend undue concession to the complainant and prosecution solely to secure a conviction.

The ruling by Justice Sanjay Vashisth came in a case arising from a dispute between brothers. An FIR was registered on October 31, 1996, at the Goindwal Sahib police station in Amritsar district, for offences under Sections 420, 468, 471, 506, 379, 380, and 34 of the IPC.

During the trial, the complainant moved an application under Section 311, CrPC, to summon an advocate, citing his familiarity with the case’s history, and a branch manager of Punjab Financial Corporation, who had prepared the inventory of alleged stolen machinery. The trial court dismissed the application in October 2008.

The accused was acquitted on January 19, 2009. But the complainant did not challenge the court’s order rejecting the application under Section 311, CrPC, until after the acquittal. On January 20, 2009, a day after the acquittal, the complainant filed a revision petition against the October 7, 2008, order before the Tarn Taran Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ).

‘Complainant took 3 yrs to challenge court findings’

The Bench observed that the complainant did not challenge the trial court’s findings of acquittal for nearly three years. It was only on October 10, 2011, that the complainant filed a criminal appeal against the acquittal. The revisional court, without addressing the relevance of summoning the additional witnesses, allowed the revision petition and consequently also set aside the acquittal in appeal before remanding the case for retrial.

Justice Vashisth observed the court was “amazed” to notice that the complainant lapsed twice — once when order issued on October 7, 2008, was never assailed by him till acquittal of the accused by the trial court. “Secondly, only after being acquitted... the revision petition was filed by the complainant next day in all likelihood after realising the mistake of not challenging the order vide which the application was dismissed.”

Justice Vashisth said findings of acquittal were based on evidence and material presented before the trial court warranting no interference. The court noted that the ASJ “did not point out any glaring error in the finding recorded by trial court. Therefore, issuing a direction to conduct a retrial after a belated period is not appropriate, as by that time much water had flown.”