Reasoned acquittal cannot be reversed unless prosecution evidence is free from material infirmities and trial court findings are perverse.

An appellate court should not disturb a reasoned acquittal unless the prosecution evidence is free from material infirmities and the trial court's view is perverse. Here, the trial court disbelieved the prosecution on significant contradictions, including medical evidence inconsistent with the alleged time of death, disputed eyewitness presence and identification, unreliable dying declarations, and the interested conduct of witnesses. The High Court reversed the acquittal without adequately addressing these defects or showing why the trial court's findings were wrong. The conviction was therefore unsustainable, and the acquittal was restored in favour of the accused.

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Issues: Whether the High Court was justified in reversing the trial court's acquittal and convicting the accused on the evidence adduced.

Analysis: The trial court had recorded a reasoned acquittal after disbelieving the prosecution version on several material grounds, including the medical evidence showing undigested food in the stomach of the deceased, which was inconsistent with the prosecution's time of death. The evidence also revealed serious contradictions regarding the alleged harvesting, the presence and identification of eyewitnesses, the alleged dying declarations, and the conduct and interested nature of the witnesses. The High Court interfered with the acquittal without meeting these substantial infirmities or explaining why the trial court's conclusions were wrong. The evidentiary defects were treated as going to the root of the prosecution case and undermining the conviction.

Conclusion: The High Court's conviction could not be sustained, and the acquittal stood restored in favour of the accused.

Ratio Decidendi: An appellate court should not reverse a reasoned acquittal unless the prosecution evidence is shown to be free from material infirmities and the trial court's view is demonstrably unreasonable or perverse.

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