THE STATE OF GUJARAT vs BHALABHAI URFE NARENDRABHAI PRATAPBHAI PARMAR Advocate - V I BHARVAD — 23/2026

Case Summary: State of Gujarat v. Bhalabhai Urfe Narendrabhai Pratapbhai Parmar Court Decision: The court acquitted the accused of charges under the Gujarat Prohibition Act, finding that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The court held that the panchas (independent witnesses) who were present during the seizure of alleged illicit liquor did not support the prosecution's version, and the case lacked corroborating evidence required by law for conviction in such matters. Key Reasoning: The judgment emphasizes that when panchas are mandatory witnesses during searches under prohibition laws, their testimony must independently corroborate the police officer's account. Since the panchas' evidence contradicted rather than supported the seizure claim, and no proper sample analysis report was produced, the court found insufficient grounds for conviction and granted the benefit of doubt to the accused. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.