Calcutta High Court: A Single Judge Bench comprising of Rajasekhar Mantha, J. dismissed an appeal filed against the judgment and order of the Additional District Judge whereby the appellant along with seven others was convicted under Section 395 IPC.
In January 2005, the accused persons committed a dacoity in Samali Primary Block Health Center and took away Rs 6,74,784 by placing a bhojali (large knife) on the throat of one of the official. The accused persons were apprehended and convicted as mentioned above. While challenging the judgment of conviction, it was argued by the appellant that he was not identified by the seizure witness in Court. Also, that he was not identified in TI parade.
The High Court, while rejecting the submission of the appellant, held that in case of the appellant, the TI parade would have been useless. The appellant was absconding in January (when incident occurred) and was apprehended only in September. He was, however, named in the first charge sheet. The Court held that it was useless to conduct any TI parade of the appellant after a period of 9 months of the incident. For such and other reasons, the appeal was dismissed. While concluding, the Court also found that the money involved in the case that was recovered had not been deposited in the treasury which was indeed shocking. As such, the Court recommended departmental enquiry for major penalty and also criminal proceedings against the Investigating Officers concerned. [Madha Rai v. State of W.B.,2018 SCC OnLine Cal 5882, dated 31-08-2018]
