Independent witnesses are rare commodity: Court

Independent witnesses are a rare commodity as no one wants to join a probe, fearing the inconvenience they will suffer in attending the hearings, a Delhi court has observed.

The court's observation came while quashing an order, acquitting a couple found possessing illicit liquor in 2014.

Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain directed the magisterial court, which had acquitted the couple on October 17 this year, to hear the matter afresh by allowing the prosecution to examine all the vital witnesses.

The sessions court also noted that the trial court had acquitted the couple of the offences under the Delhi Excise Act as no independent witness was examined during the trial.
 

"It is not the case that no effort was made to join the public persons at the time of the raid. The possibility and availability of a public witness for joining the investigation is a fanciful myth like the meeting of the sky at the horizon. The near you go, the far it becomes and the ultimate meeting point never reaches.

"A public witness nowadays has become a rare commodity. No one is ready to join the police investigation either because of the fear of the accused or because of the inconvenience to be suffered in attending the courts," the judge observed.

The court noted that the order of acquittal was passed solely on the basis of the testimony of a police constable, without giving an opportunity to the prosecution to examine all the important witnesses.

"The trial court should have given a sufficient opportunity to the prosecution to examine the witnesses and recorded the findings on merits," it said.

According to the prosecution, the accused couple -- Seema and Ravi -- were on September 17, 2014 found in possession of 12 plastic bags containing illicit liquor, which were kept in a car for sale without any permit or licence near the BRT corridor in south Delhi.

The car belonged to Seema.

An FIR was lodged and after the completion of the probe, the chargesheet was filed against the couple under the relevant provisions of the Delhi Excise Act.

During the trial, the accused had denied the allegations and claimed that they were falsely implicated in the case.

The trial court had acquitted them on the grounds of absence of independent witnesses and chances of fabrication of the case property -- the liquor bottles.