ISSUE:
- Is the testimony of interested witness admissible under Indian Evidence Act?
RULE:
- An interested witness, being a friend or relative of the deceased does not automatically make a witness unreliable.
ISRAR V. STATE OF U.P.
Israr v. State of U.P. AIR 2005 SC 249
FACTS:
- In the present case, the deceased had a grocery shop and was threatened by the accused(Israr) over money. On the night of the incident, the accused intercepted the deceased and attacked him with a knife, causing injuries.
- The injured Zamil Ahmad was taken to the hospital, where a report was filed with the police. His condition worsened, and he was transferred to All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where he died. The postmortem report confirmed the cause of death as peritonitis and bronchopneumonia due to injuries sustained in the attack.
- The accused was found guilty by the trial court.
- The appeal was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court, affirming their conviction and sentence.
HELD:
- The Supreme Court, in its judgment, emphasized the importance of carefully evaluating the testimony of interested witnesses.
- While acknowledging that interested witnesses can provide valuable evidence, the court cautioned that their testimony should be subjected to thorough scrutiny.
- In this particular case, the court assessed the reliability of the interested witnesses testimony in light of other evidence presented.
- After a detailed examination, the court concluded that the interested witnesses testimony was credible and corroborated by other evidence, leading to Israr’s conviction for the offense of murder.