Delhi HC upholds Moga MLA’s acquittal
Friday, 29/08/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140829/punjab.htm#23
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court today upheld the acquittal of Joginder Pal Jain, Akali Dal MLA from Moga, in a 1988 case related to smuggling of foreign currency and travellers’ cheques (TCs) worth Rs 16 lakh.
The Customs Department was unable to prove the case against Jain “beyond reasonable doubt,” Justice S Muralidhar ruled in a 23-page judgment, dismissing the government appeal.
“There are too many unexplained facts and unanswered questions in the prosecution’s case which persuade the court to agree with the reasoning and conclusion arrived at by the trial court,” the High Court held. The trial court had acquitted Jain on September 29, 2006.
Citing a Supreme Court verdict, the High Court said in a case of acquittal, evidence could be re-appraised on appeal only if the trial court verdict was perverse. This was not so in this case, it said. Jain had contended that the luggage from which the currency was recovered belonged to a co-passenger, Manohar Lal Grover, who was also travelling from Delhi to Hong Kong.
Jain was also found to be travelling on a forged passport for which he was convicted but let out on probation as he confessed to the crime.
The trial court had held that Jain’s claim that the bag did not belong to him could not be rejected outright. “Further, there was no explanation as to under what compulsion Jain had confessed the ownership of the suitcase when there was no evidence against him except the statement of Grover.”
