New Delhi, A Delhi court has acquitted two men in a 2022 attempt to murder case after finding gaps in the victim’s testimony.

Additional sessions judge Vipin Kharb said the testimonies in the category of neither wholly reliable nor wholly unreliable required corroboration on material aspects.

The court was hearing a case against Afshan and Faisal, who were accused of stabbing Mohammad Yawar on October 28, 2022.

In its verdict dated December 22, the court said there was no legal impediment in convicting a person on the sole testimony of the complainant or the victim but given the doubts in Yawar’s statements, it had to insist on corroboration.

“Generally speaking, oral testimony in this context may be classified into three categories, namely, wholly reliable, wholly unreliable and neither wholly reliable nor wholly unreliable,” the order said.

The court said it had to be cautious in the third category and look for corroboration in material particulars through reliable testimony, direct or circumstantial.

According to the victim, he had gone home after being stabbed and assaulted, which was about 2 kilometer from the scene of crime.

“He was conscious and fit enough to reach his house at a distance of 1-2 km without anybody’s assistance but he did not go to any hospital for treatment, or make any call to the police or to his family, which an ordinary prudent person in such a situation would have done. Further, he admitted he did not tell anything about the incident to the PCR police officials,” the court observed.

The victim’s testimony was found inconsistent, particularly on the number of assailants, motive behind the offence and his conduct after the incident.

“So the testimony of prosecution witness 1 falls in the third category, i.e, it is neither wholly reliable nor wholly unreliable and therefore, corroboration in material particulars is required. No other evidence is brought on the record by the prosecution to corroborate his testimony,” the court said.

The court said the second eye witness in the case turned hostile and did not support the prosecution’s theory over the identification of the accused persons.

“The court has no hesitation to conclude that there are many contradictions in the testimony of injured Yawar and same is not consistent and its veracity is shaken…therefore, same cannot be relied upon being inconsistent and uncorroborated,” the verdict held.

Both men were acquitted on account of the prosecution failing to prove the charges against them beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Jamia Nagar police station registered an FIR against the duo under Sections 307 and 34 of the IPC.

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