A man accused of attacking his father with a screw driver and causing injuries was acquitted of an attempt to murder charge by a local court here after the victim and his younger son, the only material witnesses in the case, deposed that they did not see the assailant.
Khushpal Singh, a resident of Guru Nanak Dev Colony, was accused of stabbing his father Manjeet Singh with a screw driver in July last blaming him for ruining his married life.
But the charge against him could not be proved as Manjeet Singh, an electrician, told the court that he could not see the face of the assailant due to darkness when he was attacked outside his house at around 10 p.m. on July 23.
Manjeet also denied having told the police that Khushpal Singh used to beat up his wife under the influence of alcohol that forced her to return to her parents. He also denied that Khushpal used to ill-treat him and held him responsible for his troubled married life.
The second witness in the case and the brother of the accused Ravinder Singh told the court that he was inside the house when he heard his father's screams for help outside and found him lying in a pool of blood with an injury on the chest.
He also deposed that he could not see the assailant.
With both the material witnesses in the case not deposing against the accused, the Additional Sessions Judge at Rohini Courts, Ramesh Kumar, observed that the prosecution had not been able to bring home the guilt of the accused and there was no incriminating evidence on the record file to connect the accused with the offence.
Criminal law
Contending that it was a well settled preposition of criminal law that prosecution has to establish its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt, the court referred to an observation made by Punjab and Haryana High Court in Balraj Singh vs The State of Punjab case: “Even if, there may be an element of truth in the prosecution story against the accused and considered as a whole, the prosecution may be true, but between “may be true” and “must be true”, there is invariably a long distance to travel and the whole of this distance must be covered by the prosecution by legal, reliable and unimpeachable evidence before an accused can be convicted.”
