In Brief
The State appealed against the High Court's reversal of a conviction under Section 307 IPC (attempt to murder) and Section 25(1-A) of the Arms Act. The accused was charged with shooting the victim during a dispute over paddy weighing. While the Session Court convicted him based on three eyewitnesses, the High Court acquitted him due to material infirmities: the complainant failed to name the accused initially, the weapon was recovered from the accused's pocket after prolonged delay, no forensic examination of the weapon was conducted, the weapon was not produced before the Magistrate, and no characteristic injury marks appeared despite the alleged close-range shooting. The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal, holding these infirmities were material and substantive, not technical.", <parameter name="cited_cases">[{"raw_citation": "(2004) 3 SCC 654", "case_name": "Dhanaj Singh @ Shera & Ors. v. State of Punjab", "cited_year": "2004", "paragraph": "12", "treatment": "distinguished", "treatment_by": "this_court", "treatment_quote": "In other words, it cannot be said that the aforementioned infirmities were either irrelevant or in any way insignificant or technical in nature as compared only to the ocular version of the witnesses... it is distinguishable."}]
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