Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: A 2014 murder case saw a significant procedural development after the Additional Sessions Court permitted the prosecution to introduce a police constable as a witness and place a station diary entry on record, which is said to relate to the movements of the accused on the day of the incident.
Additional Sessions Judge Dvijple Patkar allowed the prosecution’s application under Section 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, observing that the proposed evidence could help clarify the conduct of the accused immediately after the alleged offence. The court further stated that the defence would not suffer any prejudice, as it would have the opportunity to cross-examine the witness.
According to the prosecution, the accused had visited the Keri Police Outpost on the day of the murder to submit a complaint, which was recorded in the station diary by Constable Tushar Melekar. While an extract of the diary is already part of the case record, the constable who made the entry had not been examined earlier.
The prosecution maintained that examining the constable had become necessary to establish the accused’s conduct soon after the alleged crime and argued that excluding such testimony would weaken its case.
The defence opposed the move, arguing that the prosecution was attempting to fill gaps in its evidence after several witnesses had already been examined since the filing of the charge sheet in 2014. It also claimed that introducing a new witness at this stage would unfairly prejudice the accused.
However, the court rejected the objection, noting that the station diary is an existing official record and not a newly introduced document. It observed that the constable’s testimony appeared essential for a fair adjudication of the case, as it could shed light on the accused’s behaviour following the incident.
The court also held that no prejudice would be caused to the accused, as the defence would be given full opportunity to cross-examine the witness and challenge the document during trial proceedings.
