Duty of Magistrate while recording statement u/s 164 of CRPC
It is well settled that the statement under Section 164 Cr.P.C. can be used both for corroboration and contradiction of the author of the statement and thus, did not find this ground worth acceptance. Even otherwise, it appears that statement recorded under Section 164 Cr.P.C. by the Magistrate was not in detail. No question had been put to the witnesses whose statements had been recorded nor an attempt had been made to extract answers from them and the witnesses were asked by the learned magistrates what they wanted to say and they had no clue as to what they had to speak. Therefore, they simply spoke what came to their mind at that point of time whether it was relevant or irrelevant. The witnesses could not be deemed to carry so much of wisdom to enable them to know what are the essential facts they need to state before the learned magistrate. The witnesses whose statements were recorded before the magistrate were simply asked “have you finished, you can go”.
