Discrepant Evidence– Discrepancies in the statement of a witness–
On factual side, Mr. Shajahan’s greatest emphasis was on what he called discrepancy in testimony.
He tried to have us to accept that those who deposed before the Tribunal, did not say many of those things when they were examined by the I.O. during the investigation stage.
Under our general criminal procedural law, i.e., Cr.P.C. Section 161 provides for the recording of statements from potential witnesses by the I.O’s. Although those statements do not form parts of evidence, they do nevertheless have great evidentiary significance in that the defence can under Section 162 Cr.P.C., read with Section 145 of the Evidence Act, 1872, use such statements to prove that as deposition made by a prosecution witness in Court is discrepant with the statement he made to the I.O. at the investigation stage, they should not be treated with credence.
Although provisions of both Cr.P.C. and Evidence Act have been explicitly excluded by the Act, sanctity of statements made to the I.O. is still of great relevance in that discrepancies in the statement of a witness at different stages on the same fact is bound to dent his credibility. (Paras:748-751); .....Allama Delwar Hossain Sayedee =VS= Government of Bangladesh, (Criminal), 2017 (1)- [2 LM (AD) 76] ....View Full Judgment