Acquittal can be reversed when trustworthy eyewitness and medical evidence is rejected on conjecture, not reasoned appraisal.

An acquittal may be reversed where the appellate court's distrust of prosecution witnesses is based on conjecture rather than the record. The SC noted that credible ocular evidence from injured eye-witnesses, a prompt first information report, medical support, recovery of exploded hand-grenade parts, and surrounding circumstances consistently established the occurrence at the deceased's house. It held that the High Court's reasons for rejecting this evidence were unwarranted and amounted to a manifestly unreasonable appreciation of the proof, causing miscarriage of justice. The acquittal was set aside and the trial court convictions restored, with the sentence under Section 302 IPC modified to life imprisonment.

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Issues: Whether the High Court was justified in acquitting the accused by disbelieving the prosecution evidence and whether the convictions recorded by the trial court should be restored.

Analysis: The prosecution evidence was found to be credible and supported by several eye-witnesses, including injured witnesses whose presence at the scene was established by their injuries. The prompt first information report lent corroboration to the ocular version. The medical evidence, the recovery of exploded hand-grenade parts from the courtyard, and the surrounding circumstances supported the prosecution case that the occurrence took place at the deceased's house and not elsewhere. The reasons given by the High Court for disbelieving the witnesses were held to rest on conjectures, surmises, and an unwarranted approach of distrust toward the investigating and medical officers. The acquittal was therefore regarded as manifestly unreasonable and as having resulted in miscarriage of justice.

Conclusion: The acquittal was set aside and the convictions recorded by the trial court were restored, with the sentence for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code modified to imprisonment for life while the other sentences were maintained.

Ratio Decidendi: An acquittal can be reversed where it is based on conjectures or manifestly unreasonable appreciation of trustworthy ocular and medical evidence, particularly when the prosecution version is corroborated by a prompt first information report and injured witnesses.

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