Dadri MLA murder case: Uttarakhand High Court acquits another accused granting benefit of doubt

The Uttarakhand High Court last week acquitted a man serving life sentence in a 29-year-old murder case of then Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) MLA, Mahendra Singh Bhati (Pal Singh @ Pala @ Lakkar @Harpal Singh vs. CBI)..A Bench of Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma set aside a 2015 judgment of the Special CBI court which had convicted Pal Singh under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and section 326 (causing grievous hurt) Singh as well as sections of the Arms Act..A former minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, DP Yadav, had also been convicted in the same incident and awarded a life sentence. The High Court had earlier this month acquitted Yadav too..In its judgment acquitting Pal Singh, the High Court held that the prosecution could not prove that the circumstantial evidence was enough to convict the accused and, therefore, it failed to travel the distance between “may be true” and ``must be true”.“It is, indeed, a settled principle of criminal jurisprudence that the prosecution must travel the distance between “may be true” and “must be true”. In the present case, the prosecution has failed to cover this long distance. Therefore, the prosecution continues to exist in the realm that the prosecution case “may be true”,” the Court said..The allegation was that, in 1992, when Bhati was on his way to record his statement in a murder case in his car, he was attacked and killed by seven to eight unknown persons. His nephew then lodged a complaint at the Dadri Police Station.The complainant alleged that DP Yadav had conspired with two other accused, Pal Singh and Karan Yadav, to murder Bhati.Though the investigation was initially handled by the local police, it was later transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation. It was argued by the prosecution that Pal Singh was hired by DP Yadav to murder Bhati because of political rivalry, animosity and gang war. Finally, in March 2015, a special trial court convicted Yadav.The prosecution had told the Court that Singh was arrested four years after the incident in June 1996 from a village in Haryana. An AK-47 assault rifle was recovered from him and the police claimed this was the same rifle used to kill Bhati..The High Court, however, said that the prosecution failed to prove the fact the very same gun was used for the crime. The Court did not agree even with the trial Court’s conclusion that Singh had absconded, as he was never declared an absconder. The Court added that absconding by itself cannot form the basis of conviction of a person.“Although the prosecution claims that the appellant was an absconder, no evidence has been produced to indicate that any step was taken by the prosecution to have the appellant declared as an absconder under Section 82 of Cr. P. C. Moreover, in the catena of cases the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that absconding is not incriminating evidence. For, even innocent person tend to leave the place of commission of crime. Therefore, absconding by itself cannot form the basis of conviction of the appellant,” it said..The Bench noted that despite the fact that the evidence produced in the case is incoherent, chaotic, unacceptable and mysterious, the trial court has interlinked them to complete a chain which would unerringly point towards Singh’s guilt.“As discussed hereinabove, neither the evidence taken individually, nor holistically, unerringly point towards the guilt of the appellant. Therefore, the prosecution has failed to establish its case against the appellant… Since the prosecution has failed to establish its case, and since the prosecution case continues to be an animated suspension of “may be true”, this Court acquits the appellant by giving him the benefit of doubt,” the Court said..[Read Judgment].Uttarakhand High Court acquits DP Yadav in murder case