HC has full powers to review acquittal orders: SC

New Delhi, October 9: The Supreme Court has ruled that the High Court dealing with an appeal has full powers to re-appreciate, review and reconsider the evidence against an acquittal order passed by the trial court. "When such an appeal is filed, the High Court has full power to re-appreciate, review and reconsider the evidence at large, the material on which the order of acquittal is founded and to reach its own conclusions on such evidence," a bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Mukundakam Sharma observed. The apex court said that both questions of fact and of law are open to scrutiny by the High Court in an appeal against an order of acquittal. "It cannot, however, be forgotten that in case of acquittal, there is a double presumption in favour of the accused," the bench said. It explained that firstly the presumption of innocence is available to him/her under the fundamental principle of criminal jurisprudence that every person should be presumed to be innocent unless he is proved to be guilty by a competent court of law. "Secondly, the accused having secured an acquittal, the presumption of his innocence is certainly not weakened but reinforced, reaffirmed and strengthened by the trial court," the bench said. The bench passed the ruling and observations while dismissing the appeal by Murgan and another accused in an attempt to murder case.

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