Elisha Vaswani
The Apex Court has ingeminated that minor contradictions found in statement of witnesses’ testimony can not be a ground to discredit such testimony in a criminal proceeding.
The above observation was reiterated while hearing an appeal filed by accused, convicted under Section 302 of IPC and Section 135(1) of the Bombay Police Act.
The accused submitted in his contention that there existed several contradictions in the submissions made by prosecution witnesses.
The Bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R. Subhash Reddy, categorically held that, “The contradictions which are sought to be projected are minor contradictions which cannot be the basis to discard their evidence”
“If the entire evidence of all the witnesses is examined with reference to medical and other evidence on record, it is clear that the prosecution has proved the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.” The Bench observed.
The Court made apposite reference to the ratio laid down in Narayan Chetanram Chaudhary and Anr. v. State of Maharashtra,
“Only such omissions which amount to contradiction in material particulars can be used to discredit the testimony of the witness. The omission in the police statement by itself would not necessarily render the testimony of witness unreliable. When the version given by the witness in the court is different in material particulars from that disclosed in his earlier statements, the case of the prosecution becomes doubtful and not otherwise.
Minor contradictions are bound to appear in the statements of truthful witnesses as memory sometimes plays false and the sense of observation differ from person to person. The omissions in the earlier statement if found to be of trivial details, as in the present case, the same would not cause any dent in the testimony of PW2.
Even if there is contradiction of statement of a witness on any material point, that is no ground to reject the whole of the testimony of such witness.”
The appeal was duly dismissed by the Bench.
Case in question: Kalabhai Hamirbhai Kachhot vs. State of Gujarat [Crl.A.No.216 of 2015 ]