Relation Of Witnesses To Deceased By Marriage Not Enough To Reject Their Testimony

The fact that the witness may be related to the deceased by marriage, cannot be sufficient reason to classify him as a related and interested witness to reject his testimony, the Supreme Court has observed while dismissing the appeals in a murder case (Chandrasekar vs State).

The wife of the deceased and her relatives were prime witnesses in this case and they had deposed seeing the murderous assault on the deceased by the accused. The trial court had convicted the accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment and the high court had upheld the verdict.

“It may only call for greater scrutiny and caution in consideration of the evidence,” the court observed, while rejecting the contention that these witnesses were interested witnessed and their testimony be rejected.

With regard to deposition by the wife, the bench observed: “Being the wife of the deceased, we find no reason why she would not be speaking the truth with regard to the real assailants instead of shielding them by false implication. The fact that she had the courage to name her own in-laws as the assailants is also a factor which speaks of the reliability of her evidence.”