The Hindu : National : 'Best Bakery not a precedent '

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 25, 2004

National

National

'Best Bakery not a precedent '

NEW DELHI, NOV. 24. The Supreme Court has cautioned the High Courts against relying on the Best Bakery case as a precedent for ordering retrial in ``all or every case where the acquittal of accused is for want of adequate or reliable evidence.''

``The law laid down in the Best Bakery case cannot be applied to all cases against the established principles of criminal jurisprudence,'' a Division Bench comprising Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari said while setting aside a Calcutta High Court order directing a fresh trial ``from stage one'' in a case of dowry harassment leading to death.

On the High Court directing a ``de novo'' trial, the Bench said the law on the point was very clear that ``even if retrial is directed in the exercise of revisional powers by the High Court, the evidence already recorded at the initial trial cannot be erased or wiped out from the record of the case.''

Recording a note of caution against courts placing strong reliance on the Best Bakery case while ordering a retrial, the Bench said: ``That was an extraordinary case in which the court was convinced that the entire prosecution machinery was trying to shield the accused rioters. It was found that the entire trial was a farce.''

Distinguishing the case at hand from the Best Bakery case, the court said: ``In the Best Bakery case, the first trial was found to be farce and is described as `mock trial.' Therefore, the direction for retrial was, in fact, for a real trial. Such extraordinary situation alone can justify the directions made by this court in the case.''

Setting aside the order of acquittal, the High Court had directed the trial court to go for a fresh trial without considering the evidence recorded in the initial trial of the case in which the deceased Kana Banerjee's husband, Satyajit Banerjee, and others had been charged with treating her with cruelty and thereby abetting her to commit suicide. Kana was found dead at her matrimonial home on October 25, 1995.

UNI

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