The Madras High Court today set aside the order of a lower court summoning late Kannada actor Rajkumar's wife to depose as a witness in connection with the actor's kidnap by forest brigand Veerappan in 2000 and directed it to consider the matter afresh.
Allowing a plea by the actor's wife Parvathammal, Justice P N Prakash set aside the order of III Additional District-cum-Sessions judge of Gobichettipalayamcourt in Erode district summoning her.
Parvathammal had moved the High Court after the trial court had rejected her plea to dispense with her personal presence as she suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
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The prosecution had also supported her plea.
"A genuine request appears to have been made by the prosecution, contending that Parvathammal was suffering from Alzheimer's and therefore, no purpose would be served by bringing her all the way from Karnataka for giving evidence as she may not even be able to depose to the facts that had taken place in the year 2000," the bench said.
It said a realistic approach should be adopted by this court in cases of this nature.
The bench said if there was other evidence for the same fact, it was not necessary for the prosecution to duplicate evidence and increase the number of witnesses in the light of Section 134 of Evidence Act.
"The operative portion of the trial court order is silent on the question as to whether the prosecution has examined the witnesses who were present with Parvathammal when Rajkumar was abducted and whether the evidence of those persons would be insufficient to arrive at a just decision in the case."
Though the prosecution sought to dispense with her personal attendance saying she was not medically fit to give evidence as she was suffering from Alzheimer,the trial court had rejected the request onMarch 23.
The High Court saidit was remitting the matter to the trial court for fresh consideration on whether Parvathammal's evidence would be essential in the light of the assertion that she suffers from Alzheimer's.
"Liberty is given to the prosecution to establish the fact that Parvathammal is not in a position to give evidence by consulting the physician or any other person who is treating her. The entire exercise shall be completedin four weeks," the HC said.
The late actor was kidnapped by Veerappan on July 30, 2000, from his farm house in Gajanur on Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. He was released on November 15, 2000 after being in captivity for 108 days.
