#leave to appeal

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has reaffirmed that acquittals under Section 378 CrPC cannot be overturned unless the trial court’s judgment is manifestly perverse or exhibits gross misappreciation of evidence. This ruling strengthens the presumption of innocence in environmental and mining-related prosecutions where identification and chain-of-custody evidence are weak, setting a high bar for state appeals in quasi-criminal regulatory cases.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has ruled that an acquittal under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act is legally unsustainable if it relies on a handwriting expert report that was never examined in court, especially when the report conflicts with documentary proof. This sets a critical precedent for evidentiary rigor in cheque bounce cases, requiring courts to subject expert opinions to cross-examination before accepting them as decisive.

Madhya Pradesh High Court clarifies that the threshold for granting leave to appeal against acquittal under Section 378(4) CrPC requires only a prima facie case or arguable points, not proof of perversity at the initial stage. This ruling lowers the bar for appellants seeking to challenge acquittals, impacting criminal appellate practice.

The Bombay High Court has granted leave to appeal against an acquittal in a grievous hurt case, holding that consistent eyewitness testimony and medical evidence establishing fracture and surgical intervention constitute sufficient grounds for appellate review. This reinforces that acquittals cannot stand where credible, corroborated evidence of serious bodily harm exists, even if the trial court erred in its evaluation.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled that where prima facie evidence and the statutory presumption under Section 29 of the POCSO Act exist, leave to appeal against acquittal must be granted. This sets a precedent reinforcing victims' rights to challenge acquittals in sexual offence cases, ensuring judicial re-examination of evidence where statutory presumptions favour the prosecution.