U.P. State Road Transport Corporation ... vs State Of U.P., Presiding Officer, ... on 27 August, 2007
34. Another star witness of prosecution is PW12 Mahesh
Choudhary. He in his examination-in-chief deposed that he was laying
down in Sindhi Park on June 30, 2012 after consuming half bottle of liquor
at about 11 AM and further deposed that between 11 AM to 11.30 AM
deceased and accused came there and told him that they were going to
Delhi Gate to consume liquor and asked him to accompany them but he
refused. He further deposed that between 4 PM to 5 PM, he went to Delhi
SC No. 81/12 18 of 27
State Vs. Manas Kumar Pati
Gate in a park where statute is installed (Asaf Ali park) and saw that
numerous persons were consuming liquor in the said park and further
deposed that deceased and accused were also consuming liquor there. He
further testified that though he joined them but he did not consume liquor
and further deposed that since accused became annoyed and asked him to
go, accordingly he left from there. Since, he did not depose on the line of
prosecution, he was got declared hostile and was cross-examined. But he
could not be derailed from the deposition made in his examination-in-chief.
However, he admitted that when he reached Delhi Gate park, accused
asked him to take liquor and thereafter they sat below the statute in the
park located at Asaf Ali park, Delhi Gate and further admitted that accused
had prepared three large pegs but he asked the accused to make a small
peg for him. But in the mean time, deceased asked him sale tujhe haram ki
sharab pine ki adaat par gai hai kabhi kharid kar pila diya kar. Upon this,
hot words were exchanged between him and deceased and thereafter he
left for Old Delhi after taking his half bottle. He also deposed that accused
also asked him to go away and further testified that when he left, accused
and deceased were consuming liquor. From his testimony, it becomes
clear that numerous other persons were also consuming liquor in the park
besides the deceased and accused. It is also clear that the hot words were
exchanged between PW12 and deceased and not between accused and
deceased. Since numerous persons were also consuming liquor in the
park, there was every opportunity for any other person to join the deceased
before the alleged incident.