Published on: February 14, 2024 at 16:25 IST
Court: Supreme Court of India
Citation: Ram Lal v. State of Rajasthan (2024)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that Courts under its Judicial Review jurisdiction is obliged to examine the substance of the judgment and not go by the form of expression. It is held that if a fact is said to be “disproved”, the court either believes that it does not exist or considers its non-existence so probable that a prudent man ought, under the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it does not exist. A fact is said to be “not proved” when it is neither “proved” nor “disproved”
28. Expressions like “benefit of doubt” and “honourably acquitted”, used in judgments are not to be understood as magic incantations. A court of law will not be carried away by the mere use of such terminology. In the present case, the Appellate Judge has recorded that Ext. P-3, the original marksheet carries the date of birth as 21-4-1972 and the same has also been proved by the witnesses examined on behalf of the prosecution.
The conclusion that the acquittal in the criminal proceeding was after full consideration of the prosecution evidence and that the prosecution miserably failed to prove the charge can only be arrived at after a reading of the judgment in its entirety. The Court in judicial review is obliged to examine the substance of the judgment and not go by the form of expression used.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra