Ramban, June 7: A local court here today convicted two persons, including a woman, and sentenced them to three months imprisonment for lying on oath.
  The convicts, Hanifa W/o Farooq Ahmed and Rubina D/o Ghulam Nabi Naik, both residents of village Thachi Tehsil Banihal  Distt. Ramban, had accused two persons of the same village of rape and abduction but during their statement in the case they turned hostile.
  Taking a serious note of the conduct of the complainants, after they turned from their earlier statements recorded U/S  164-A CrPC, the Sessions Judge Ramban took a suo-moto cognizance in the matter and started proceedings in terms of Section 479-B, Cr PC against both the prosecurix.
  On their failing to furnish  any plausible explanation with regard to their resiling from their previous statements, both Hanifa Begum and Rubina were convicted for the commission of perjury.   
  “The practice of resiling from their previous statements by the prosecutrix was rampant earlier also when there was no provision of Section 164-A Cr PC and State legislature, in its supreme wisdom, by Amendment Act No. IX of 2007 amended the Code of Criminal Procedure by inserting Section 164-A Cr PC  to curb the menace of perjury by the witnesses, made a provision for recording of statements of material witnesses by a Magistrate on oath during investigation so that the cases do not fail in view of retraction  by the witnesses during the trial”, the court observed adding that a practice on the part of the witnesses required to be dealt with a heavy hand so that nobody could pollute the pure stream of justice.
  Farooq Ahmed, husband of convict Hanifa Begum, had lodged a written application with the police accusing two persons, Muhammad Ibrahim (a surrendered militant)  and Muhammad Iqbal (a school teacher) of abduction and rape of his wife and niece. The two women in their statements under section 164 CrPC had leveled serious allegations against the accused but they took a U turn during the trail of the case leading to the acquittal of the accused.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 7 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 7 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 8 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST