{"id":306182,"date":"2023-11-02T15:00:22","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T09:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=306182"},"modified":"2023-11-07T16:12:50","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T10:42:50","slug":"hp-hc-conviction-can-be-based-only-on-evidence-of-official-witnesses-if-such-evidence-is-reliable-legal-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2023\/11\/02\/hp-hc-conviction-can-be-based-only-on-evidence-of-official-witnesses-if-such-evidence-is-reliable-legal-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Conviction can be based only on cogent, reliable and credible evidence of official witnesses: Himachal Pradesh High Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Himachal Pradesh High Court:<\/span> In a case wherein the appeal was filed against the conviction of the appellant by the Special Judge, the Division Bench of <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Tarlok Singh Chauhan*<\/span> and Ranjan Sharma, JJ., opined that evidence of official witnesses was not to be disbelieved merely because they were official witnesses. The Court opined that unless it had been proved contrary, the presumption is that every witness was impartial and independent. Statements of official witnesses could be the basis for the conviction of the accused, but before basing conviction on the evidence of official witness, strict scrutiny with care and caution was required.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Background<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">On 13-02-2015, the police party on traffic and patrolling duty noticed the petitioner walking on NH-21 and had a carry bag in his right hand. When he saw the police part, he turned back and tried to flee from the spot. The petitioner tried to throw the carry bag below the road towards the river side, but the carry bag after striking with the safety grills instilled at the spot and came back on the road.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The person was overpowered by the police party and thereafter, he was interrogated. Subsequently, the carry bag was checked by the Inspector and it was found that it contained a polythene envelope sealed with Khaki cello tape. Thereafter, the efforts were made to associate the independent witnesses in the investigation but being the secluded place and no passengers or driver of the vehicles were ready to become a witness. Since, no independent witnesses were available, the Inspector associated police officials as witnesses. After checking the polythene envelope, it was found that it contained a chapati and a long shape black coloured substance wrapped in transparent polythene, which was later identified as charas or cannabis.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">After the police investigation was completed, the charge-sheet was filed against the appellant and a prima facie charge under Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001570292\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002802179\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985<\/a> was framed against the petitioner.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The Special Judge after evaluating the evidence, convicted the appellant and thus, the appellant filed the present appeal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Analysis, Law, and Decision<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Considering the appellant&#8217;s contention that no safety grills were showed in the spot map, the Court opined that the Investigating Officer was neither an engineer nor an architect, who could have been expected to prepare a map with sufficient accuracy and even otherwise the footnote attached with the spot map would be sufficient. The Court opined that it would have been desirable if the grills were shown in the spot map, but non-depicting of the grills would not in any way cast a doubt in the present case.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Further, considering the appellant&#8217;s contention that no independent witnesses had been examined, the Court relied on <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Sathyan<\/span> v. <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">State of Kerala<\/span>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/Members\/NoteView.aspx?enc=SlRYVC05MDAxNTkzMDkzJiYmJiY0MCYmJiYmU2VhcmNoJiYmJiZmdWxsc2NyZWVuJiYmJiZ0cnVlJiYmJiYyMDIzIElOU0MgNzAzJiYmJiZBbGxXb3JkcyYmJiYmZ1NlYXJjaCYmJiYmZmFsc2U=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2023 SCC OnLine SC 986<\/a> and opined that the evidence of official witnesses was not to be disbelieved merely because they were official witnesses. The Court opined that unless it had been proved contrary, the presumption is that every witness was impartial and independent. Statements of official witnesses could be the basis for the conviction of the accused, but before basing conviction on the evidence of official witness, strict scrutiny with care and caution was required. Thus, the Court opined that in cases where the evidence of the official witnesses was found to be cogent, reliable and credible, conviction could be based only on the evidence of the official witnesses.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Further, with regard to the appellant&#8217;s contention that the conscious possession of the contraband had not been specifically put to the appellant, the Court opined that what law required was not the exact language of the statute. In the instant case, it was required that the accused attention had to be drawn to every inculpatory material to enable him to explain.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The Court opined that this was the basic fairness of the criminal trial and failures in this area might gravely imperil the validity of the trial itself. However, if such omission had occurred, it did not ipso facto vitiated such an omission and prejudice occasioned by such defect must be established by the accused. The Court opined that if the evidentiary material was not being put to the accused, the Court must ordinarily avoid such material from consideration. However, this was not the situation in the present case, as when the appellant was examined under Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001519362\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">131<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726935\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Criminal Procedure Code, 1973<\/a>, the essence of the accusation was duly brought to the appellant&#8217;s notice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Thus, the Court dismissed the present appeal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">[<span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #632423;\">Nadeem Akram v. State of Himachal Pradesh, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink\/6ZCcujKg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2023 SCC OnLine HP 1464<\/a>, decided on 11-10-2023<\/span>]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 18pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">*Judgment authored by- Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>Advocates who appeared in this case :<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 18pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">For the Appellant:<\/span> Rupesh Upadhyay and Vir Bahadur Verma, Advocate;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 18pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">For the Respondent<\/span>: Y.W. Chauhan, Senior Additional Advocate General with Sharmila Patial, Additional Advocate General with J.S. Guleria, Deputy A.G.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"color: #000080;\">Buy Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 &nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebcwebstore.com\/product_info.php?products_id=1031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/h3>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebcwebstore.com\/product_info.php?products_id=1031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/code-of-criminal-procedure-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Code of Criminal Procedure\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-294422\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/code-of-criminal-procedure-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/code-of-criminal-procedure-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/code-of-criminal-procedure-440x293.jpg 440w, https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/code-of-criminal-procedure-650x433.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/code-of-criminal-procedure.jpg 886w, https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/code-of-criminal-procedure-60x40.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">&#8220;Presumption is that every witness is impartial and independent, unless proved contrary. There is no presumption for doubting the credibility of official witnesses, in principle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67011,"featured_media":292797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[33992,3468,62436,2568,2929,62434,62435],"class_list":["post-306182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-highcourts","tag-cogent","tag-conviction","tag-credible","tag-Evidence","tag-Himachal_Pradesh_High_Court","tag-official-witnesses","tag-reliable"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Conviction can be based only on evidence of official witnesses, if such evidence is reliable: Himachal Pradesh HC| SCC Blog<\/title>\n<meta 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testimony of official witnesses can be relied upon solely in order to prove guilt of the accused: Himachal Pradesh HC","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"November 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Himachal Pradesh High Court: A Division Bench of Sanjay Karol, Chander Bhusan Barowalia, JJ. allowed an appeal filed against the order of conviction passed by the trial court, whereby accused was convicted under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The main issue that arose before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Himachal-HC_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Himachal-HC_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Himachal-HC_1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Himachal-HC_1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Himachal-HC_1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":307819,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2023\/11\/28\/andhra-pradesh-hc-sets-aside-conviction-considering-contradictory-evidence-of-witnesses-legal-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":306182,"position":1},"title":"No mandate under CrPC for witness to appear before Court only when summoned; Andhra Pradesh HC sets aside conviction considering contradictory evidence of witnesses","author":"Editor","date":"November 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cUnless there is any blatant mistake or error on the face of the record which may lead to miscarriage of justice, the Revisional Court shall not exercise its diligence over the matter.\u201d","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"andhra pradesh high court","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/andhra-pradesh-high-court.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/andhra-pradesh-high-court.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/andhra-pradesh-high-court.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/andhra-pradesh-high-court.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":177284,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/12\/21\/evidence-interested-witnesses-scrutinized-care-cannot-rejected-merely-ground-partisan-evidence\/","url_meta":{"origin":306182,"position":2},"title":"Evidence of interested witnesses is to be scrutinized with care, cannot be rejected merely on the ground of being partisan evidence","author":"Saba","date":"December 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"High Court of Himachal Pradesh: While deciding a revision petition filed under Sections 397 and 401 of CrPC, a Single Judge Bench comprising of Tarlok Singh Chauhan, J. acquitted the petitioner on the basis of irregularities in the evidence of partisan witness. The petitioner- a bus driver, was accused of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Himachal-HC_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Himachal-HC_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Himachal-HC_1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Himachal-HC_1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Himachal-HC_1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":235421,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/09\/07\/all-hc-in-rape-sexual-assault-cases-evidence-of-the-victim-alone-is-sufficient-for-conviction-or-corroborative-witnesses-is-a-necessity-explained\/","url_meta":{"origin":306182,"position":3},"title":"All HC | In rape\/sexual assault cases, evidence of the victim alone is sufficient for conviction or corroborative witnesses is a necessity? Explained","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"September 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Allahabad High Court: Suresh Kumar Gupta, J., while addressing the present jail appeal held that, \"...in cases involving sexual assault\/rape, it is generally difficult to find any corroborative witnesses, except the victim herself and therefore, the evidence of the victim is sufficient for conviction unless there exist compelling reasons for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":210946,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2019\/02\/26\/madras-hc-hostility-of-witnesses-held-immaterial-where-sequence-of-events-are-cogent-and-corroborate-to-each-other\/","url_meta":{"origin":306182,"position":4},"title":"Madras HC | Hostility of witnesses held immaterial where sequence of events are cogent and corroborate to each other","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"February 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Madras High Court:\u00a0Dr G. Jayachandran, J., dismissed a criminal appeal filed by the accused who was convicted by the trial court for the offence of 'abetment of suicide' punishable under Section 306 IPC. As per the prosecution, the accused, a married man was very close to the deceased who committed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":253372,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2021\/08\/27\/deficiency-in-criminal-trial\/","url_meta":{"origin":306182,"position":5},"title":"Idiosyncrasies of colloquial terms, used for naming accused, could well be the difference between his conviction and acquittal: Supreme Court","author":"Editor","date":"August 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court: A Division Bench of Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy, JJ. took the liberty of disagreeing with one of the most famous lines penned down by the Bard of Avon (William Shakespeare), to suggest that \"Much indeed is in a name\". The Supreme Court reiterated the necessity of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67011"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}