Gujarat High Court
Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court has acquitted two persons awarded life sentence for murder and who have already spent over 13 years in prison, holding that the prosecution had failed to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Pravinsinh Parmar and Tejendrasinh Parmar, residents of Salal village in Sabarkantha, were arrested after a clash in Jan 2009 that allegedly stemmed from a dispute among women over a right of way. A sessions court in Himmatnagar convicted the duo in 2012 for murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 on each. Their sentence was suspended by high court in 2023 after they spent nearly a decade in prison following conviction. The judgment records that Pravinsinh spent 13 years and 26 days in jail, while Tejendrasinh remained behind bars for 13 years, six months and 14 days.
During the violence, Rajendrasinh suffered injuries and later died during treatment. Cross-complaints were lodged by both sides following the violence. Having already spent around three years in jail as undertrials, they remained incarcerated during the pendency of their appeal. The bench also observed that prosecution had suppressed the true genesis of the incident and failed to explain injuries sustained by members of the accused side. It further held that after trial court rejected the charges of unlawful assembly and common object, prosecution could not establish individual liability for the offence of murder. Granting the benefit of doubt, court acquitted both men.
Allowing their appeal, a division bench of Justice Gita Gopi and Justice L S Pirzada found significant inconsistencies in prosecution’s case. The court noted discrepancies between eyewitness testimonies and medical evidence, uncertainty regarding the weapon used and the identity of the accused who allegedly inflicted the fatal injury.