Holding

The trial court’s judgment was perverse; the High Court correctly set aside the acquittal of A‑1 to A‑3, and the evidence of the eye‑witnesses stands despite minor inconsistencies.

Summary

The case arose from a violent incident during the 1995 Mandal elections in Gadiparthivaripalem, where the candidate Soodidela Satyanarayana Reddy was murdered by a group of about twenty accused armed with stones, knives and axes. The trial court acquitted all accused, deeming the two eye‑witnesses (the victim's nephew and a vegetable vendor) either interested or chance witnesses and finding inconsistencies between their testimony and the post‑mortem report. The High Court set aside the acquittal of three accused (A‑1 to A‑3), holding that the witnesses’ presence was natural, their statements, though recorded after eight years, were reliable, and the medical evidence did not contradict the ocular evidence. On special leave, the Supreme Court examined whether the trial court’s judgment was perverse and whether the High Court was justified in its interference. The Court concluded that the trial court’s findings were indeed perverse, the inconsistencies were immaterial, and the High Court was within its jurisdiction to overturn the acquittal. Consequently, the appeals of the accused were dismissed.

Issues considered

The High Court’s power to interfere with a trial court’s acquittal on the ground that the judgment is perverse.
Whether the eye‑witnesses’ testimony can be rejected due to alleged inconsistencies with medical evidence.
Whether discrepancies between the post‑mortem findings and the ocular accounts go to the root of the case.
Whether the unexplained injuries on the deceased create a reasonable doubt in favour of the accused.
Whether the presence and credibility of the two witnesses are natural and sufficient for conviction.

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 161, s. 313
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 148, s. 149, s. 302, s. 324

Subjects

murderelection violenceeye‑witness testimonymedical evidenceperverse judgmentappeal against acquittalIPCevidentiary assessment

Judgment

[2009] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R. 1

GAMINI BALA KOTESWARA RAO & ORS. A
v.
STATE OF AP. THR. SECRETARY
(Criminal Appeal Nos. 634-635 of 2008)

AUGUST 19, 2009
B
[HARJIT SINGH BEDI AND DR. B.S. CHAUHAN, JJ.]

PENAL CODE, 1860

r:
ss.. 302 and 148 - Murder - Manda/ Parishad elections c
- About 20 persons hurling stones and attacking one of the
candidate and his nephew (PW-1) - Death of the candidate
.. - Accused A-1 to A·3 attributed specific roles in causing stone
and knife injuries to deceased - Trial court termed eye
witnesses as an interested witness and a chance witness and D'
held oral testimony to be in variance with medical evidence
- Acquittal of all the accused - High Court setting aside
acquittal of A-1 to A-3 - Held: Presence of both the eye-
witnesses at the scene of occurrence was absolutely natural
- As regards the injuries on the victim, out of eight injuries, 5
were attributed to t~e three accused and three injuries E
remained unexplained - However, this circumstance alone
would not destroy the flow of other evidence - It is clear that
the incident had happened in the course of the Manda/
Parishad Elections with several people being involved and a
large group of spectators being present at the spot - In this F
scenario it would have been well nigh impossible for any
witness to have given a mathematical or precise description
of all the injuries that had been caused and that too in a melee
- The fact remains that the injuries found on the dead body
correspond fully with the weapons that had been used - Thus, G
the medical evidence does not in any way contradict the
~
ocular evidence - So far as the so-called improvements/
',,t- inconsistencies, in the statements given by the two eye
witnesses to the police vis-a-vis their statements in court are
1
2 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R
j

A concerned, it must be emphasized that the incident happened
in the year 1995 whereas the evidence was recorded after ·
about 8 years - Some discrepancies are, therefore, bound to
occur - It is clear from the FIR lodged by PW-1 and his
statement in court that PW-5 was present at the time of the
B incident - The other discrepancies that have been pointed out ·
are to no avail keeping in view the over all picture - High Court
-t
was fully justified in interfering in the matter and was well within
its jurisdiction to do so - Evidence - Testimony of related
witness - Minor variance in medical evidence and ocular
c version - effect of.

APPEAL:

Appeal against acquittal - Held: It is open to High Court ,.-- "
to re-appreciate the evidence and conclusions drawn by trial
0 court when the judgment under appeal is perverse - Word
'perverse' in terms as understood in law would mean 'against
the weight of evidence'.
r

WORDS AND PHRASES:
E Word 'perverse' - Connotation of. -f

CRIMINAL APP ELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal
Nos. 634-635 of 2008.

From the Judgment & Order dated 02.11.2007 oi the High
F
Court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad in Criminal Appeal No.
1280 of 2005 and Criminal Revision Case No. 1622 of 2004.

L.N. Rao, G. Ramakrishna Prasad, S. Byrapaneni and
Amar Pal for the Appellants.
G
0. Ramakrishna Reddy, D. Bharathi Reddy and Anuradha
for the Respondents.
,.
The following Order of the Court was delivered

H
GAMINI BALA KOTESWARA RAO & ORS. v. STATE 3
OF AP. THR. SECRETARY
ORDER A

This appeal by way ·Of special leave arises out of the
following facts:

On 6th March, 1995 Mandal elections were to be held in
village Gadiparthivaripalem. Two of the candidates contesting 8
the election were the deceased Soodidela Satyanarayana
Reddy and Mandap Venkateswarlu, one of the accused (A.6);..

At about 7.00 a.m. the deceased was standing along with
PW.1 his nephew, Soodidela Bapireddy, in front of the polling d
station, when all the accused, 20 in number, armed with lethal
weapons such as axes, knives, sticks and stones attacked him.
A.1 Kotesswara caught hold of the deceased by his hair and
gave two blows with a stone on his forehead and also stabbeC:t
him with a knife on his chest, A.2 Hanumantha Rao and A.3 0
Krishniah who were both armed with axes c~used injuries on
the back of the head of the deceased whereafter A.1 again
stabbed the deceased on his shoulder.

On receipt of the injuries the deceased fell to the ground.
The accident was witnessed by Pw.1 and in addition by PW.5- ~
Pambha Soubhagyamma, a vegetable hawker. PW.1 raised
an alarm whereupon PW.6 and PW.7, Soodidela Subbamma
and Soodidela Vijaylakshmi, rushed and found that the victim
was bleeding from serious injuries. They attempted to move him
towards his house but he passed away after a short while. The F
other accused A.4 to A.20 thereafter hurled stones on the
witnesses including PW.1 and PW.5 causing one simple injury
with a stone on the back of PW.1. PW.12 and PW.16 an ASI
and Head constable, who were on polling duty in the village,
also rushed to the spot and saw the accused throwing stones G
at the opposite party. PW.12 too identified the accused at that
stage. Certain other witnesses later rushed to the place and
found the deceased and PW.1 lying there with injuries.
Information was also sent to PW.22 the Sub-Inspector of Police,
Chimakurthy, who rushed to the village and recorded the
•

4 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009) 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R.
\. ~

A PW.1 's statement and the First Information Report was
registered on its basis at the police station at about 11.30 a.m.
PW.23 the Inspector of Police, Ongole, Rural Circle, thereafter
took up the investigation and visited the scene of occurrence
and, amongst other items, seized the stone allegedly used by
B A.1 in the attack on the deceased. He also dispatched the
dead body for its post-mortem examination. The post-mortem
revealed the presence of eight injuries on the dead body. +
Several other doctors (PWs. 14, 15&19) also treated PW.1 and
PWs. 2 to 4 and gave them wound certificates for the injuries
c they had allegedly suffered. On the completion of the
investigation all the accused were charged under Sec.148 of
the IPC, A 1 to A3 w~re charged under Sec.302 of the IPC and
the others under Sec.302 read with 149 IPC and under Sec.324 .,, -..-
of the IPC. They all pleaded not guilty and were brought to trial.
D The prosecution, in support of its case, placed reliance on
several witnesses but we are at this stage concerned primarily
with the evidence of PW.1 and PW.5 the two eye witnesses.
On completion of the prosecution evidence the statements of
the accused were recorded under Sec.313 of the Cr.P .C. They
E pleaded false implication. Some documents in evidence were
also tendered by the accused. "'
The trial Court in its judgment dated 5/9/2003 held that
PW.1 the nephew of the deceased was an interested witness,
F whereas PW.5 happened to be present at the place of incident ~
by chance as she belonged to another village and was a
vegetable hawker by profession. The Court observed that in this
I

view of the matter it was essential that some corroboration be
sought on account of the very nature of the evidence of these
two witnesses. The Court then went into the medical evidence 1'
G
and found that the same did not support the ocular evidence
inasmuch the injuries found on the dead body did not
correspond to the injuries referred to by the eye witnesses as
the number of injuries sustained by the deceased were eight
,.
"'
in number as per the post mortem certificate Ext. P.2, but the ,~

H
GAMINI BALA KOTESWARA RAO & ORS. v. STATE 5
OF AP. THR. SECRETARY
evidence of PW.1 and PW.5 referred to only five injuries caused A
* by the three accused i.e. A.1 to A.3. The Court accordingly
,. concluded that the genesis of the incident had been suppressed
and that apparent inconsistencies had occurred in the eye
witnesses account vis-a-vis the medical evidence and as these
omissions/inconsistencies went to the root of the matter the B
evidence of these two witnesses could not be accepted. The
Court further found that the evidence with regard to the accused
+ other than A.1 to A.3 was even more unacceptable and, having
held as above, acquitted all the accused. The State thereupon
took the matter to the High court in appeal. The High Court held c
that the eye witnesses account of PW.1 and PW.5 fully
corresponded with the medical evidence; that the presence of
the two witnesses had been fully explained and that the so
called improvements and inconsistencies referred to by the trial
: "(
Judge in the course of its lengthy judgment, were innocuous and
D
did not go to the root of the matter and could, therefore, be
.,
~
ignored and having held so (and calling the judgment of the trial
Court qua A.1 to A.3 as perverse) partly allowed the appeal and
convicted them but confirmed the judgment of the trial Court with
respect to the other accused. A 1 to A.3 are before us by way
of special leave. E

... Mr. L.N.Rao, the learned senior counsel for the three
appellants has first and foreij10st pointed out that the High Court
was dealing with the matter as an appeal against acquittal and
in the light of the settled position in law if two views on the F
evidence were possible the vie~ taken by the High court in
favour of an accused, should not have been disturbed and that
interference with a finding of fact save in exceptional cases was
not justified. The learned counsel has placed reliance on (Ram
Chander and Others vs. State of Haryana) 1983 (3) SCC 335, G
(State of Rajasthan vs .. Raja Ram) 2003 (8) SCC page 180,
~
(Jai Singh and Others vs. State of Kamataka) 2007 (10) SCC
788 . On facts Mr. Rao has urged that the observations of the
tr·ral Court that PW.1 was an interested witness and PW.5 a
chance witness called for no interference more particularly as HI
•

6 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 14 (ADDL.} S.C.R.
.,
A no corroborating evidence had come on record. He has further -Ji:.
highlighted that the medical evidence was completely at
variance with the ocular evidence and in that eventuality the
accused were entitled to claim the benefit of doubt in their -·
favour.
B '
The learned State counsel has, however, supported the
judgment of the High Court and has pointed out that the High
Court had dubbed the judgment of the trial Court as perverse
+
and had for adequate reasons and a minute re-appraisal of
the evidence reversed the findings thereof. It has also been
c pointed out thatthe observation of the trial Court that there was
~ubst~mtial differences between the statements given to the
police and the evidenc~ given in Court vis-a-vis PW.1 and
PW.5 was not correct as PW.1 who was the author of the FIR
had specifically mentioned that PW.5 had been present at the ..,, ·.
D time of incident and even in his statement under Sec. 161
~
Cr.P.C. this fact had been noted.
.....
We have considered the arguments advanced and heard
the matter at great length. It is true, as contended by Mr. Rao,
E that interference in an appeal against.an acquittal recorded by
the trial Court should be rare and in exceptional circumstances.
It is, however, well settled by now that it is open to the High ...
Court to re-appraise the evidence and conclusions drawn by
the trial Court but only in a case when the judgment of the trial
Court is stated to be perverse. The word 'perverse' in terms
F ('~
as understood in law has been defined to mean "against .the
weight of evidence". We have to see accordingly as to whether
the judgment of the trial Court which has been found perverse
by the High Court was in fact so. We have gone through the
evidence of PW.1 and PW.5 very carefully with the help of the
G
learned counsel. PW.1 stated that he had come to the place
')< )
of incident as his uncle, the deceased, Y"as a candidate in the
election. His presence is therefore absolutely natural. PW.5
stated that she was vegetable vendor and had come to the site
>-
l
in order to sell her wares. Mr. Rao, has, however, sought to
H

..
GAMINI BALA KOTESWARA RAO & ORS. v. STATE 7
OF AP. THR. SECRETARY
· demolish her testimony by observing that she had starte.d from A
1- her house at about 7.00 a.m. (as stated by her) and had
reached the murder site after selling vegetables to several
people and realising this difficulty she had changed the time to
6.00 a.m. to suit the circumstance that the murder too had
committed at 7.00 a.m. We are of the opinion that 8
inconsistency can be ignored as the witnesses belonged to a
deprived section of society and her statement was being
recorded after 8 years of the incident. It also cannot be ignored
+ that PW.5 was hawking vegetables and it would, therefore, have
been logical for her to have chosen the polling site for a visit c
as that would have ensured a crowd, and a crowd would have
meant good business. Mr. Rao has also pointed out thatPW.5
belonged to the Congress party which was the party of the
deceased as well whereas the appellants belonged to the
Telugu Desan Party and as such she could not be said to be
D
an impartial witness. The matter has been extensively dealt with
by the High court and we believe that had there been any
motive to implicate any body on the basis of party affiliations,
the main role in the entire incident would have been ascribed
to A.6 who was the rival candidate. On the contrary A.6 has
been given a v~ry minor role in the entire incident and this was E
one of factors that had let to his acquittal by the trial Court and
~ the confirmation of that order by the High Court as well.

Great emphasis has been laid by Mr. Rao in the apparent
discordance between the medical and the ocular evidence. We F
reproduce herein the injuries found on the dead body:

"1. Incised injury 2" x 1/2" on lower border of left color bone,
extending downwards, backwards obliquely in the mid
clavicular bone, through II inter costal space into the upper
G
to be of left lung, margins clean cut spindle shaped,. cut
section showed congestion of tissues injury in the lungs (l)
is 1" x 1/2" size.

2. \ncised injury 2" x 1/2" on left infrascapular area at the
level of 4" thoracic vertebra 3" away from midline extending H
8 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R.

A obliquely down wards medically entered the plura cavity
through 4th inter costal space.

3 3. Incised injury 2" x 1/2" on front of lower third of left
upper arm. Muscle deep.

B 4. Lacerated injury 2" x 1" on the left temple, muscle deep.

5. Contusion 2" x 1" on right temple.

6. Incised injury 2" .x 1/2" on left half of occipital area 2"
away from left ear.
c
7. Incised injury 2" x 1/2" on left half of occipital area 1"
below and medial to injury No.6 margins clean cut, spindle
· shaped, scalp deep.

D 8. Incised injury 2" x 1/2" two in number on left shoulder
pronounce. Muscle deep margins clean cut, on cut section
congestion of tissues present."

A perusal of the injuries would reveal that injury No.1 has
been caused by A.1, Injury No.2 either by A.2 or A.3, Injury No.3
E by A.1, Injury Nos.4 and 5 by A.1 with a stone 9nd there are
three or four additional injuries (on which emphasis has been
laid by Mr. Rao) as they remain unexplained. Even assuming,
however, that three injuries out of eight are unexplained, this
one circumstance alone would not destroy the flow of the other
F evidence. It is clear that the incident had happened in the
course of the Mandal Parishad Elections with several people
being involved and a large group of spectators being present
at the spot. In this scenario we feel that it would have been well
nigh impossible for any witness to have given a mathematical
G or precise description of all the injuries that had been caused
'
and that too in a melee .. The fact remains that the injuries found
on the dead body correspond fully with the weapons that had
been used. As a matter of fact injury Nos.4 and 5 which
appeared to be inflicted with a stone allegedly in the hands of
H
GAMINI BALA KOTESWARA RAO & ORS. v. STATE 9
OF AP. THR. SECRETARY

A.1 clearly prove the veracity of the story as it would have been A
~
inconceivable for a witness to have imagined that a stone, (a
very unusual weapon for a pre-planned attack) would be used
as A.1 was also armed with a knife which he used after the injury
had been caused with a stone. We are thus of the opinion that
the medical evidence does not in any way contradict the ocular B
evidence.

We have also gone through the so called improvements/ ,
-+- inconsistencies in the statements given by PW.1 and PW.5 to
the police vis-a-vis their statements in court. It must be
emphasized that the incident happened in the year 1995 c
whereas the evidence was recorded after about 8 years. Some
discrepancies are, therefore, bound to occur. The question to
"'
I

be noted is as to whether the discrepancies or improvements
are such which go to the root of the matter and affect veracity
... y

of the prosecution's story. We are of the opinion that the D
evidence herein does not fall within this slippery category. It is
clear from the FIR recorded by PW.1 and his statement in Court
that RW.5 had been present at the time of the incident. The other
discrepancies that have been pointed out are to no avail
keeping in view the over all picture. We are, therefore, of the E
opinion that the High Court was fully justified in interfering in the
~ matter and was well within its jurisdiction to do so, even in the
light of the judgments cited by Mr. Rao. The appeals are,
'
/

accordingly, dismissed.
F
R.P. Appeals dismissed.

I
t

-~