SYAD AKBAR V. STATE OF KARNATAKA INSC 125; AIR 1979 SC 1848; 1980 SCR 25; 1980 SCC 30

NAME OF CASE SYAD AKBAR V. STATE OF KARNATAKA INSC 125; AIR 1979 SC 1848; 1980 SCR 25; 1980 SCC 30

FACTS On March 18, 1974 at about 8.30 p.m., the appellant was driving a passenger bus No. MYM-5859 on Dharampura-Hiriyur Road towards Hiriyur. When the bus reached at a place from where a kacha path bifurcates for villages Hariyabbe, a girl named Gundamma, aged 4 years, ran across the road. The appellant swerved the vehicle towards the extreme right side of the road. In spite of it, the child was hit and died at the spot. A complaint was lodged by the Patel of the village, Gunde Gowda, at Hariyabbe Police Station. The trial court convicted Akbar based on the principle of res ipsa loquitur, Sessions Judge agreed with the trial court and upheld the conviction and In Revision, the High Court also endorsed the view taken by the Sessions Judge that the principle of res ipsa loquitur was attracted to the facts of the case.

ISSUE 1. Whether the principle of res ipsa loquitur is applicable in criminal proceedings? 2. Whether it could be invoked in the circumstances of the case presented before the court ?

HOLDING No, because of the non- application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur to criminal trials.

RATIONALE The Supreme Court held that in a criminal trial, the burden of proof always rests on the prosecution, as every man is presumed to be innocent. Until the contrary is proved, and criminality is never to be presumed subject to statutory exception. The Supreme Court also adjudicated that In civil proceedings, a mere preponderance of probability is sufficient, and the defendant is not necessarily entitled to the benefit of every reasonable doubt, but in criminal proceedings, the persuasion of guilt must amount to such a moral certainty as convinces the mind of the Court, as a reasonable man beyond all reasonable doubt