Don’t doubt cops who appear as witnesses, courts told

NEW DELHI - The Delhi High Court Monday said that courts should not doubt the evidence given by police officers as witnesses in a case.

The court’s observation was made while upholding life imprisonment awarded to a man, for killing his wife two years back, on the basis of statements of police personnel.

A division bench of Justice V.K. Jain and Justice B.D. Ahmed said: “The presumption that a person acts honestly and legally applies as much in favour of police officers as of others. It is not proper and permissible to doubt the evidence of police officers.”

The court relied upon the evidence of police officers after other witnesses turned hostile and no other witness turned up in the murder case in which the convict stabbed his wife to death.

“Judicial approach must not be to distrust and suspect their (policemen’s) evidence on oath without good and sufficient ground thereof,” the court said.

The court made the remarks on an appeal filed by Ram Dass challenging his conviction and sentence of life imprisonment in the murder case of his wife.

He had contended that the trial court had wrongly convicted him in the murder case as there was no witness to the incident and the court relied on the circumstantial evidence presented by police on the basis of their investigation.