once a prosecution witness is declared hostile the prosecution clearly exhibits its intention not to rely on the evidence of such a witness.
The Sessions Judge treated the evidence of two
hostile witnesses as the spokesmen of the prosecution case.
It is true that merely because a witness is declared hostile
his evidence cannot be rejected on that ground alone.
However, once a prosecution witness is declared hostile the
prosecution clearly exhibits its intention not to rely on
the evidence of such a witness. In these circumstances, the
Sessions Judge was not at all justified in treating the
version given by P.Ws. 5 and 7 as the version of the
prosecution itself.
2. The principle of 'Falsus unus falsus omnibus' does not
apply to criminal trials and it is the duty of the Court to
disengage truth from falsehood, to sift the grain from the
chaff instead of taking at easy course of rejecting the
prosecution case in its entirety merely on the basis of a
few infirmities.
PETITIONER:
KESHORAM GORA
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
STATE OF ASSAM
DATE OF JUDGMENT01/02/1978
