The Supreme Court has set aside a decision of the Delhi High Court which upheld the conviction of accused in a dowry death case without looking at the original trial records.
A three-judge Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana granted bail to the accused and ordered the reconstruction of the trial court records within six months.
Once the trial court records are completely reconstructed, the appeal by the accused would be decided by the High Court afresh.
In this case, the trial court records were lost during the pendency of the appeal before the High Court.
The High Court order disposing of the criminal appeal in the absence of original record cannot be held sustainable in the eyes of law, the Supreme Court said.
The recent order of the apex court came on a plea by the accused challenging the High Court decision of July 2017.
The Bench found that though “some efforts” were made by the State to reconstruct the trial court documents, the attempt eventually failed. However, State counsel informed the apex court that “some of the records” were available.
“Having heard learned senior counsel for the parties and perusing the material placed before us, we are of the view that disposing of the appeal filed by the appellant-accused without the record of the trial court is not sustainable,” the Bench concluded.
