B. L. LOOMBA, J. This is a State appeal against the judgment and order dated 16-2-1978 of the then IIIrd Additional Sessions Judge, J Barabanki where by benefit of doubt was extended in favour of the respondents and they were acquitted of the charges against them. One of the respondents, namely, respondent No. 19 Shiv Bux has since died. 2. The respondents faced trial for the offences punishable under Section 302, 326, 325, 323, 452, read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal code. 3. Prosecution case against the respondents briefly stated was that the accused Chandrapal, Kanhaiya Lal. Ram Chandra and others had a long stand ing enmity with deceased Chandrika Prasad Misra resident of village Chhoti Chandrawal, Police Station Jaipur, district Barabanki and that on 15-6-1972 sometime between 7 and 8 in the morning the accused-respondents suddenly arrived at the house of the deceased well armed with country made pistol spears kantas and lathis and in a planned manner raided the house of the deceas ed. At that time the deceased had just returned after attending the call of the nature and was washing his hands near the main door of his house The accused-respondents challenged the deceased and started assaulting him and caused serious injuries being five lacerated wounds on the head, punctured wound upon the left arm causing fracture of left humorous bone and another punctured wound on the left leg besides several abrasions on the chest, back knee, elbow and hand. Krishna Kumar, Nirmal Kumar and Ashok Kumar sons of the deceased tried to save their father but they too were subjected to attack by the accused persons and several injuries were caused to them. In so far as Krishna Kumar is concerned acid was poured in his eyes as a result whereof he became blind. The accused persons after causing injuries to the deceased and his three sons entered into the house and caused injuries to Smt. Dashrath Dei, wife of the decease. They then indulged in looting and damaging house-hold goods. The alarm raised by the occurrence attracted several persons of the village and they reached at the spot but "could not have courage to intervenes and save the victims. The accused persons thinking that Chandrika Prasad had died made good their escape. 4. They then indulged in looting and damaging house-hold goods. The alarm raised by the occurrence attracted several persons of the village and they reached at the spot but "could not have courage to intervenes and save the victims. The accused persons thinking that Chandrika Prasad had died made good their escape. 4. The deceased, according to the prosecution case, was still surviving and the complainant namely Virendra Kumar another son of the deceased along with other family members arranged to take the deceased for treatment to Barabanki but when they arrived at Safdargang crossing effort was made to engage a Kharkhare (a cart driven by a horse) but the same could not became available and injured Chandrika Prasad Misra breathed his last at the Safdarganj crossing. Complainant Virendra Kumar left the body of the deceased and other injured family members there and went to the Police Station Jaidpur and lodged first information report at 12. 05 hours. 5. Virendra Pratap Singh, PW 10 Station Officer of the police station was present at the time when the first information report was lodged and the case was registered and along with the police force he is said to have imme diately left for Safdarganj crossing. The inquest proceedings were duly taken and the dead body was despatched to the District Hospital for post-mortem examination. After interrogation of the complainant and injured persons the Investigating Officer sent the injured Krishna Kumar, Nirmal Kumar and Ashok Kumar to the District Hospital Barabanki for medical examination and treatment of their injuries. Smt. Dashrath Dei who was advised by the members of the family to go to her house was sent for medical examination on the next day. 6. During the course of investigation the Investating Officer recovered certain articles from the two wells and a talab near the village Abadi which was allegedly looted away by the culprits and thrown in the wells and talab. The articles recovered from the two wells being buckets, Gagras and Lota etc. From the talab some books and certain quantity of wheat, a piece of lathi and other Misc. small items were recovered. These articles were identified by the complainant to have been looted from their house. The articles recovered from the two wells being buckets, Gagras and Lota etc. From the talab some books and certain quantity of wheat, a piece of lathi and other Misc. small items were recovered. These articles were identified by the complainant to have been looted from their house. According to the statement of Virendra Kumar vide para 60 thereof, one box was found in a shrub and one transistor and one old coat were found in the box while all the remaining articles kept therein were found to be missing. 7. The evidence on facts of the occurrence consists of the statements or complainant, Virendra Kumar PW 2 his brother Krishna Kumar injured and his mother Smt. Dashrath Dei injured. These three witnesses belong to the family of the deceased. One independent witness Satendra Bahadur, PW 1 was also examined but he did not support the prosecution case. According to him he was not present at the time of occurrence. He did not see any part of the occurrence and according to the prosecution he turned hostile. 8. As would appears from the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, the prosecution evidence was not accepted. mainly because of being not consistent with the medical evidence and also because according to the finding of the lear ned Sessions judge, the occurrence appeared to be one of dacoity having been committed sometime in the night rather than being a case of murder as set up by the prosecution on the basis of first information report lodged by the com plainant being the own son of the deceased. According to the prosecution case the occurrence took place sometime between 7-8 in the morning. The date of occurrence being 15th June even at 7 a. m. It was a time after about one and half an hour of the sun rise. The deceased was said to have just returned after attending the call of the nature and was washing his hands and the Lota near the main door of his house. The post-mortem examination report indicates that large intestine of the deceased was full, small intenstine was semi-full badder was also full and stomach was empty. The deceased was said to have just returned after attending the call of the nature and was washing his hands and the Lota near the main door of his house. The post-mortem examination report indicates that large intestine of the deceased was full, small intenstine was semi-full badder was also full and stomach was empty. The deceased did not succumb to his injuries just after the attack and according to the prosecu tion he breathed his last sometime at about 10 a m. The fact however, remains that according to post-mortem examination report the deceased had not cleared his bowels and normally speaking this contradicts the prosecution ease of the deceased having gone to attend the call of the nature and subjected to attack on return An explanation appears to have been raised on behalf of the prosecution that the deceased was constipated and his bowels had not become clear even when he had gone out in response of the call of the nature while the possibility of the submission being correct cannot be ruled out, normally speaking it would be taken that there would atleast have been partial evacuation and the position of the intestines would not have been as reflected in the post-mortem examination report. When the large intestine was found to be full and small intestine semi-full, the probability of deceased having not gone out in resporse to the call of the nature would be more acceptable. The Investigating Officer could have found the Lota at the spot which was being cleaned by the deceased when he was subjected to attack and the fact that no such Lota was taken in possession also rahes a doubt as to the correctness of the prosecution case as to the time of the occurrence. 9. A perusal of the first information report would show that in substance the case set up was one of murder. The culprit having come armed with country made pistol, Kantas, Bhala and lathis and attacked the deceased while he was at the main door of his house, when the two son of the deceased tried to save the deceased they too were subjected to attack and acid was thrown in the eyes of Krishna Kumar. The culprit having come armed with country made pistol, Kantas, Bhala and lathis and attacked the deceased while he was at the main door of his house, when the two son of the deceased tried to save the deceased they too were subjected to attack and acid was thrown in the eyes of Krishna Kumar. The culprits thereafter are said to have entered inside the house and started beating the wife of the deceased who some how managed to escape and came out of the room. No doubt, it is alleged in the first infor mation report that the culprits started-damaging the household goods in the house but no allegation was made chat the culprits looted away any households goods from the house. On the other hand it was stated that the culprits manage to escape taking that the deceased had breathed his last at the spot. It is only in the oral evidence that the allegation has come that house-hold goods including the valuables had been looted away in this occurrence. Complainant Virandra Kumar in his statement, vide para 42, stated that in this occurrence of murder and looting the family was finished and ornaments and other articles of the house worth hundreds of rupees were looted away, Smt. Dashrath Dei, PW 6 in her statement, vide para 5 thereof also stated that the culprits not only damaged the house-hold goods but they looted away the same. She even went to the extent of saying that the culprits did not leave any house-hold goods in the house meaning thereby that all worth-while house hold goods bad been looted away. It is true that according to the first information report as also the statements of Virendra Kumar and Smt. Dashrath Dei the culprits had damaged the house-hold goods and further that some of the miscellaneous items incloding some quantity of wheat were found to have been thrown away in the well and talab, nevertheless the culprits are said to have indulged in dacoity and looted away the house-hold goods including some ornaments. A reasonable doubt thus, stands justifiably raised that it was not a case in which the culprits bad come with the object of committing the murder of the deceased. If that were the basic intention there were hardly any necessity of the culprits having gone inside the house. A reasonable doubt thus, stands justifiably raised that it was not a case in which the culprits bad come with the object of committing the murder of the deceased. If that were the basic intention there were hardly any necessity of the culprits having gone inside the house. The deceased having become available at the main entrance of the house and having been subjected to attack. It is also important that one of the accused having been armed with country made pistol could have easily killed the deceased by shooting him down. 10. If the occurrence took place some time between 7-8 in the morning the cries of the witnesses would have attracted several persons from the village. In fact, according to the first information and the oral evidence of the prose cution witnesses, several persons from the village reached at the spot and saw the occurrence but no one came forward to save the victim for fear of their own lives. These persons were not named in the first information report. One independent person, namely, Satendra Bahadur Singh was examined but he did not support the prosecution case. It is true that independent witnesses hesitate to came forward to depose about the occurrence more, particularly when the accused or some of them are residents of the same village, neverthe less it cannot be taken as an absolute rule and the fact that no independent witness has come forward to depose about such a sensational occurrence of day light is a factor going against the prosecution, 11. Even the testimony of the three witnesses examined is not very inspiring. The conduct of the complainant was found by the learned Sessions Judge to be somewhat unexplanable. He entered the witness box and just then stated that he was suffering from diarrohoea and acute pain in abdomen and that he may be allowed to go. This was permitted and he did not return and a bailable warrant of his arrest has to be issued against and it is then that he was produced to be examined before the learned Sessions Judge. The explanation furnished by the complainant in this regard appears unconvincing. This was permitted and he did not return and a bailable warrant of his arrest has to be issued against and it is then that he was produced to be examined before the learned Sessions Judge. The explanation furnished by the complainant in this regard appears unconvincing. According to him the Assistant Public Prosecutor who was conducting the case on behalf of the State had demanded some money from him and he became somewhat apprehensive as regards the statement of the doctor and that he thought it expedient not to make a statement on that date. The conduct of the complainant in just standing out and in not making any effort to save his father also appears somewhat unnatural. 12. The learned Sessions Judge had made a mention of certain other contradictions also in the oral evidence of the prosecution witnesses. It is, however, not necessary to refer to the same. There exist important facts and circumstances which go to impair the truthfulness of the prosecution case and raise a serious doubt as to the time and nature of the occurrence. What appears more probable is that it was a case of dacoity having been committed during the course of the night. Once a reasonable doubt stands raised as to the nature and time of the occurrence, the prosecution case has necessarily to fall and the benefit of such doubt has naturally to go to the accused persons. The finding recorded and conclusion arrived at by the learned Sessions Judge cannot in any way be said to be perverse. 13. The well accepted principle of law is chat when an accused is acquit ted the presumption of his innocence is reinforced by the order of acquittal passed by the trial Court who has had the advantage of seeing the witnesses and hearing their evidence. The findings of fact recorded by the trial Court can be traversed and the judgment reversed only when there are substantial and compelling reasons. Great weight has to be attached to the view taken by the trial Court and the same cannot be reversed unless the view adopted in the opinion of the High Court is such which may on the face of it appear to be perverse; or meaning perversity. Great weight has to be attached to the view taken by the trial Court and the same cannot be reversed unless the view adopted in the opinion of the High Court is such which may on the face of it appear to be perverse; or meaning perversity. The findings of the learned Sessions Judge in this case cannot be said to suffer from any such defect and, as such, there is no force in this State appeal and it is liable to be dismissed. 14. Accordingly the appeal is dismissed. Appeal dismissed. .