HC acquits man in bid to murder case of 2015

Dehradun: Uttarakhand HC acquitted a man convicted in an attempt to murder case and set aside a lower court's order sentencing him to life, giving him the "benefit of doubt" after finding that the prosecution failed to prove the charges "beyond reasonable doubt".A division bench of Justices Ravindra Maithani and Ashish Naithani on Jan 10 overturned the conviction and sentence awarded by a lower court to Jalaluddin, a resident of Kashipur in US Nagar.According to the case, on the night of Sept 22, 2015, home guards on duty at Kashipur Sugar Mill spotted some suspects. It was alleged that when they tried to stop them, Jalaluddin fired at home guard Vijay Pal Singh with a country-made pistol, seriously injuring him. Police registered a case under IPC Section 307.The court of additional district and sessions judge, Kashipur, had convicted Jalaluddin on Oct 23, 2019, and sentenced him to life imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 20,000. Jalaluddin challenged the verdict in the HC.HC found serious inconsistencies in the prosecution version. Court noted that the main witness, Khemkaran, on whose testimony the identification of the accused was based, did not support the prosecution in court. The bench also found contradictions in witness statements regarding the time of the incident.HC questioned the investigation, noting that no cartridges were recovered from the crime scene and the blood-stained clothes of the injured were not produced as evidence. The court also noted that the accused was already acquitted in the case related to the recovery of the weapon shown in this case.The court treated the 10-hour delay in filing the FIR as suspicious. It noted that despite the police station being only 500 m away from the crime scene, the FIR was registered in the morning though police received information about the incident at night, and said such a delay cast doubt on the prosecution story.The court clarified that a conviction cannot be based solely on the statement of the injured party if that statement does not corroborate the FIR and other circumstances. HC acquitted Jalaluddin of all charges and ordered jail authorities to release him immediately, provided he was not wanted in any other case.