Mallinath

appreciation of evidence of a witness = If the behavior is absolutely unnatural, the testimony of the witness may not deserve credence and acceptance.= After coming to know about the incident, it defies commonsense that the mother would not tell her other daughter and the son-in-law about the kidnapping of the deceased by her mother-in-law. It is also worthy to note that she did not tell it to anyone for almost two days and it has not been explained why she had thought it apt to search for her daughter without even informing anyone else in the family or in the village or without going to the police station.= In view of the obtaining fact situation, in our considered opinion, the learned trial Judge was absolutely justified in treating the conduct of the said witnesses unnatural and, therefore, felt that it was unsafe to convict the accused persons on the basis of their testimony.=True it is, the powers of the appellate court in an appeal against acquittal are extensive and plenary in nature to review and reconsider the evidence and interfere with the acquittal, but then the court should find an absolute assurance of the guilt on the basis of the evidence on record and not that it can take one more possible or a different view. 21. In view of the aforesaid premises, the appeals are allowed and the judgment of conviction passed by the High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 937 of 1999 is set aside and the accused-appellants are acquitted of the charges. As the appellants are already on bail, they be discharged of their bail bonds.

Page 1     ReportableIN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIACRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTIONCRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1366 OF 2007Shivasharanappa and others … AppellantsVersusState of Karnataka..RespondentWithCRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 508 OF 2007Jagadevappa and others … AppellantsVersusState of Karnataka and others ..RespondentsJ U D G M E N TDipak Misra, J.Page 2The two appeals have been preferred by theaccused- appellants against the … Continue reading →