A Bench of Justice Vinod Chatterjee Koul of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court while allowing a Criminal Appeal against the Conviction reiterated that In a criminal trial, suspicion no matter how strong, cannot and must not be permitted to take place of proof. It was further observed that in criminal cases, the Court has a duty to ensure that mere conjectures or suspicion do not take the place of legal proof. The large distance between ‘maybe’ true and ‘must be’ true, must be covered by way of clear, cogent and unimpeachable evidence produced by the prosecution, before an accused is condemned as a convict.

The court further observed that the Appellate Court has the duty to appreciate the evidence on record and if two views are possible on assessment and evaluation of evidence, the benefit of reasonable doubt has to be given to an accused inasmuch as it is not correct to suggest that the Appellate Court cannot legally interfere with the order of conviction where the Trial Court has found the evidence as reliable and that it cannot substitute the findings of the Sessions/Special Judge by its own, if it arrives at a different conclusion on reassessment of the evidence.