EMPEROR Vs. NARAYEN RAGHUNATH PATKI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused in this case one Narayan Raghunath Patki, an Entry clerk in the General Post Office, Bombay, was charged before Russell J. and a common jury that he being an officer of the Post Office, viz. a clerk in the Inland Registration Department, committed theft in respect of a registered letter 477, containing currency notes of the value of Rs. 80 and four Goa lottery tickets, which was in the course of transmission from Ahmedabad to Goa and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 52 of Act VI of 1898 and was found guilty and sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment.

(2.) On the 16 October 1906, the Acting Advocate General Mr. Lowndes certified that a certain document marked as Ex. N and purporting to be the written record of a statement made by one Shankar, a witness for the prosecution in the case and taken down by one Narayanrao, a Police Officer, was wrongly so admitted and there was accordingly an error in the decision of a point of law decided by the said learned Judge.

(3.) The said Ex. N is to be found at page 50 of the printed book herein and was in the first instance admitted to contradict the said witness Shankar, but it is not necessary further to refer to this matter as we are all of opinion that having regard to the terms of Section 162 of the Criminal Procedure Code the said document ought not to have been admitted or used in evidence against the accused, although, no doubt, it might be used to contradict the witness not by putting in the statement but by putting it in the hands of Narayanrao to refresh his memory and get him to contradict the statement of Shankar.