EMPEROR Vs. PRAMATHA NATH BOSE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the order of the Sessions Judge of Burdwan setting aside on appeal the conviction and sentence passed on one Pramatha Nath Boss who was convicted of an offence under Section 193 of the Indian Penal Code by the Deputy Magistrate of Burdwan. The facts are that the defendant verified and filed a written statement in suit No. 462 of 1907. In suit No. 451 of 1907 the defendant gave evidence and was cross-examined with a view of showing that certain statements he had made in the written statement he had verified and filed in suit No. 462 of 1907 were false. He admitted they were false, and on the strength of that admission he was prosecuted and convicted before the Deputy Magistrate.

(2.) The learned Sessions Judge set aside the conviction on the ground that, under the proviso to Section 132 of the Evidence Act, the answers given in cross-examination at the trial of suit No. 451 of 1907 could not be proved against him on a charge of having made false statements in the verified written statement he filed in suit No. 462 of 1907.

(3.) For the Crown it is contended that the answer was not one the witness was compelled to give, and, therefore, that the proviso to Section 132 does not apply.