The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court delivered a split verdict in the 2010 attempted murder case filed against MLA Abhay Singh and others at Maharajganj police station in Faizabad (now Ayodhya).
Judge Atau Rahman Masudi, while hearing an appeal filed by a resident of Ayodhya challenging the acquittal of Abhay Singh and 6 others, sentenced 5 people including Abhay Singh to three years in prison. However, Justice Ajay Kumar Srivastava dismissed the appeal and upheld the Sessions Court’s May 2023 order acquitting the accused.
A division bench of Justices Attau Rahman Masudi and Ajay Kumar Srivastava reserved its verdict on August 27 this year. The verdict was announced on Friday.
“In view of the difference of opinion between the members of the bench, the record of the criminal appeal under section 433 of the Indian Civil Protection Code, 2023 is allowed to be placed before the Hon’ble Chief Justice. Bench,” the court said in its judgment on December 20.
Abhay Singh won the 2022 assembly election from Gosaiganj seat in Ayodhya on a Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket. It is suspected that Abhay Singh cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections held in February this year.
According to the court’s order on Friday, Vikas Singh, a resident of Maharajganj in Ayodhya, filed a case at the Maharajganj police station, saying that the incident took place on May 15, 2010, while he was returning to his home in Deogarh village from Faizabad. Scorpio car with his friend Dharmendra Singh and nephews Bahadur Singh and Ajit Pratap Singh.
At a bend near Maiji Temple, a black Scorpion overtook their car and stopped a little further. Vikas Singh recognized the accused including Abhay Singh inside the Scorpio by the headlights of his vehicle. Then the accused got out of the vehicle and stood on the side of the road.
According to the complaint, suddenly the three accused, including Abhay Singh, opened fire on Vikas Singh’s vehicle with the intention of killing him and while urging each other, they fired at each other. The accused also abused. Dharmendra Singh, who was driving the car, accelerated the car and managed to escape saving everyone’s lives.
Vikas Singh claimed that there was a “constant threat to his life and family”, as Abhay Singh was a “known mafia figure” in the state. He also said that he was injured when the vehicle suddenly braked and hit the dashboard.
After the FIR was registered, Vikas Singh was admitted to the district hospital in Faizabad, where he was undergoing treatment for three days. After completing the investigation, the investigating officer filed a charge sheet against seven accused Ramakant Yadav, Ravikant Yadav, Abhay Singh, Sandeep Singh, Shambhunath Singh, Girish Pandey and Vijayakumar Gupta.
The charge sheet was filed under various sections including 147 (rioting), 149 (guilty of every member of an unlawful assembly charged with an offense of common object), 504 (intentional insult with intent to disturb the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation). and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC.
The police have also imposed Section 27 of the Arms Act against the accused. At the request of one of the accused, the trial was shifted to Ambedkar Nagar district.
On 10 May 2023, the Ambedkar Nagar trial court, after considering the evidence on record and the testimony of the injured witness, concluded that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and consequently acquitted all the accused. The charges against them.
Then the complainant (Vikas Singh) filed an appeal against the judgment of the Sessions Court.
In his order, Justice Atau Rahman Masudi said the appellant’s counsel’s acquittal was “not based on a proper assessment of the evidence on record” and was “perverse”. While recording the finding of acquittal, the court has given too much weight to contradictions and omissions in the statement of the injured witness and has ignored documentary evidence such as injury report and technical expert report. The damage to the vehicle fully confirms that the incident took place as mentioned in the first information report. Therefore, the acquittal is reversible and the accused persons can be convicted for the crimes they committed, Masudi said.
Refuting the contention of the learned counsel on behalf of the appellant, on behalf of the accused-defendants, the accused has been acquitted judicially and the accused has been justified. doubt The appellant contended that Abhay Singh and his associates both belonged to different political parties and were implicated in a false case due to enmity and political rivalry. It is also pointed out that the appellant is innocent and not a law abiding citizen but there is a criminal case against him and he has concocted a false story implicating Abhay Singh and others to take revenge against Abhay Singh. In reality, no such incident allegedly occurred.
Justice Masudi added, “The view taken by the trial court is the only view or the possible view is a guiding principle which is applied to the trial uninterruptedly and innocently contrary to the case at hand. Taking a holistic view of the case with the detailed reasoning mentioned above, the court is of the view that the trial court The finding of acquittal recorded is flawed, distorted and not based on correct appreciation of the evidence available on record.Consequently, the appeal is allowed and passed by the Special Judge (MP/MLA Court), Ambedkar Nagar The impugned judgment and order dated 10.05.2023 is set aside.”
In its order, the court has convicted Shambhunath Singh, Ramakant Yadav, Ravikant Yadav, Abhay Singh and Sandeep Singh under sections 147, 149, 504, 506, 307 of the IPC.
“However, having regard to the overall circumstances including the remoteness of the incident and the delay in the conclusion of the case, the Court is of the view that it would be a miscarriage of justice to sentence them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months under Section 147 IPC and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years. Fine of Rs.5,000/- each under Section 307/149 IPC And in case of disobedience, the accused shall be liable to simple imprisonment for an additional month, imprisonment for 6 months under Section 504 IPC and According to 506 IPC, accused Abhay Singh, Ravikant Yadav have been sentenced to three years imprisonment under Section 27 of the Arms Act. However, accused Girish Pandey and The acquittal of Vijay Gupta by the trial court is accepted for lack of evidence,’ the court said in its order.
Justice Ajay Kumar Srivastava in his order said, “I have had the privilege of going through the draft judgment prepared by my honorable brother, Hon’ble Attau Rahman Masudi, J. With great respect, I find myself unable to agree with it. In the appeal filed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court for acquittal This disagreement arose out of the legal principle of deciding the admissibility of evidence.”
He added, “However, I agree with the conclusion recorded by my honorable brother as far as the acquittal of the respondents Nos. 5 and 6, Girish Pandey and Vijayakumar Gupta is concerned, for the reasons given later.”
The court added, “The learned trial court could not consider anything on record to have relied on inadmissible evidence or to have found acquittal of accused/accused Nos. 2 to 8. Evidence that was otherwise admissible, but the same was not considered. In this case, from the learned court, respondent no. It cannot also be said that the sole reason for acquitting 2 to 8 was the mention of various cases against the first informant PW-2/Vikas Singh. In the light of what has been discussed above, the present criminal appeal lacks merit, which is liable to be dismissed and accordingly, dismissed. “
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