Reasons are the soul and heart of a judgment: Bombay High Court remits matter to magistrate to reconsider acquittal

While remitting a matter back to a magistrate for reconsideration of an acquittal, the Bombay High Court recently observed that reasons form the soul and heart of a judgment. [Baki Abdulgani Patel v. The State of Maharashtra and Ors].Justice SG Mehare observed that it is a rule of writing judgments that the entire evidence on record shall be appreciated, based on which a judge has to record conclusions with reasons."It is a rule of writing judgment that the evidence as a whole available on the record shall be appreciated, and on the basis of the evidence, the Judge writing a judgment has to record the conclusions with reasons. The reasons are rational explanations for the conclusion. It is a process by which one reaches a conclusion. The reasons are the soul and heart of the judgment," the order stated..The Court was hearing a plea by a complainant against an order of a magistrate acquitting four accused charged for causing hurt and criminal intimidation in July 2005.The complainant, Baku Patel, stated in his revision application that no reasons were assigned for discarding evidence of a few injured witnesses. He pleaded that the magistrate had also not uttered a single word from testimony of the injured, which had been supported by medical evidence. He added that the investigating officer was not examined and the alleged weapons used to commit the offence were not seized. .The High Court observed that the magistrate only enlisted the prosecution witnesses, but failed to discuss a single word about the evidence they gave.It also noted that in the absence of a discussion on the contradictions and omissions in the judgment, it was difficult to believe that the non-examination of the investigating officer had an adverse effect on the prosecution case."The judgment and order of acquittal is without reasons, appreciating the evidence and ignoring the direct evidence. The soul and heart of the judgment are missing in it. The order before this Court is bad in law and full of errors, illegalities and improprieties," the order said.It thus remitted the matter to the magistrate for reconsideration of the evidence and rewriting of the judgment..Advocate VS Tanwade represented the complainant while the accused were represented by Advocate VM Humbe.Assistant Public Prosecutor SB Narwade appeared for the State..[Read order]