Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
P. KUNHALI
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
STATE OF KERALA
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 15/04/1998
BENCH:
G.T. NANAVATI, S.P. KURDUKAR
ACT:
HEADNOTE:
JUDGMENT:
J U D G M E N T
NANAVATI, J.
The appellant was convicted by the trial court for
causing death of one Sanjeevan. His conviction was based
upon the evidence of P.Ws 1 and 2 who were accompanying t he
deceased and P.W. 3 who had seen the deceased and P.Ws 1 and
2 going together on the road. The trial court held that the
evidence of P.Ws 1 and 2 deserved to be accepted
particularly when it was corroborated by the evidence of
P.W. 3 who was an independent witness.
The High Court on reappreciation of the evidence also
came to the conclusion that the evidence of P.Ws 1 and 2
deserved to be accepted. The High Court has rightly observed
that merely because P.Ws 1 and 2 were the friends of the
deceased and possibly belonged to the same political party,
their evidence could not have been discarded on the ground
that they were partisan witnesses. The High Court was also
right in rejecting the contention that P.Ws 1 and 2 could
not have seen the incident from the place where they were
standing when knife blows were given to the deceased. The
High Court also rightly rejected the contention that the
prosecution had changed the place of incident as there was
no substance in it. It has given good reasons in support of
its finding. We see no good reason to differ from the
findings recorded by the High Court.
It was lastly contended on behalf of the appellant that
the High Court having disbelieved the evidence of P.Ws 1 and
2 regarding A.2 and A.3 , ought not to have accepted it
against A.1 also A.2 and A.3 were given benefit of doubt as
there was no clear evidence regarding the role played by
them when the deceased was given knife blows by A.1.
Therefore, acquittal of A.2 and A.3 by the High Court cannot
be of any help to A.1.
We, therefore, see no reason to interfere with the
judgment and order passed by the High Court. The appeal is,
accordingly, dismissed.