High court erred, says Supreme Court but blames Haryana government

NEW DELHI: Though admitting that Punjab and Haryana HC committed an "egregious error" by reversing the acquittal order of three persons by invoking its revisional jurisdiction, not allowed as per law, and that too without granting them a hearing, SC on Wednesday blamed Haryana govt for the mistake and said the public prosecutor should have corrected the judge during proceedings, reports Amit Anand Choudhary.
Reversing the HC order which led the accused being subjected to rigorous imprisonment for three months, Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan told the state to pay them compensation of Rs 5 lakh each.
"Judges are human beings and at times they do commit mistakes. The sheer pressure of work at times may lead to such errors. At the same time, the defence counsel as well as public prosecutor owe a duty to correct the court if the court is falling in some error and for all this, we hold state govt responsible. It is state govt which appointed the concerned public prosecutor," SC said.
SC noted various defects on HC's part - both on the procedural aspect as well as on points of law - while convicting the three to 20 years after they were acquitted by the trial court, including the "shocking aspect" of HC relying upon a witness statement to police under Section 161 of CrPC instead of his oral testimony before the trial court.
Putting the blame on the prosecutor for not correcting HC, SC said, "The public prosecutor, instead of assisting the judges in the right direction by pointing out the correct position of law, went to the extent of praying before the court that the appellants deserved capital punishment. It is adifferent thing that HC rejected the prayer."