The Calcutta High Court has acquitted a man in a 36-year-old Arms Act case, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a lawful and conscious recovery of arms, particularly after all independent seizure witnesses denied being present during the alleged raid.
Allowing the appeal filed by Jogesh Barman alias Doro Barman, Justice Prasenjit Biswas set aside the conviction, observing that the alleged recovery of arms had become “highly doubtful” in the absence of corroborative evidence.
The Court ruled that a conviction under the Arms Act cannot be sustained solely on the basis of uncorroborated police testimony, especially when independent witnesses categorically disown their participation in the search and seizure process. Emphasising the settled legal position, the Court held that proof of conscious and lawful possession is the sine qua non for offences under the Arms Act.
Justice Biswas noted that once seizure witnesses themselves deny witnessing the recovery or the preparation of the seizure list, the very foundation of the prosecution case collapses, rendering the conviction legally unsustainable.
